PPAP’s and NIST’s Urban Greenhouse Gas Measurements Program

The Urban Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Measurements Testbed System of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an example of Public-Private-Academic Partnerships used by NIST across its range of research activities. The Testbed System, part of NIST’s Greenhouse Gas Measurements program, begun in 2010, advances research developing methods to quantify GHG emission fluxes in cities. Cities are the largest area emission source both nationally and globally. NIST, in partnership with the private sector, academia, and other Federal Agencies, has established GHG surface observing networks in the Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. regional testbeds. Atmospheric inversion models using GHG concentration data from testbed surface networks are combined with spatially explicit emissions model result, and complemented by airborne observations of CO₂ and methane, to estimate emissions at the sub-city to facility levels. These studies investigate the similarity and differences in results of these complementary methods. PPAPs are the backbone of NIST’s efforts to develop and demonstrate advanced GHG emissions measurement methodologies.