Course syllabus

Course-PM

SEE155 Environmental measurement techniques HT24 (7.5 hp)

This course is offered by the department of Space, Earth and Environment.

Useful links

• General instructions
• Lecture slides
• Experiments
• Writing a report
• Study visit: Onsala Space Observatory

Contact details

• Examiner and course responsible: Johan Mellqvist (JM)
• Teachers:
  • Maxime Prignon (MP)
  • Vladimir Conde (VC)
• Guest (research) lecturers:
  
  • Samuel Brohede, FluxSense AB
  • Faustine Mascaut  SEE-Chalmers
  • Åsa Hallquist, IVL-Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Course purpose

  

Preliminary Schedule

Schedule on TimeEdit

The plan of the works will be as follows:

Course activities

Week 1 (week number 45):

Introduction and lectures.

• Tuesday 13:15-14:00: Introduction to the course and practical information ML15 ( JM, MP & VC )
• Tuesday 14:15-15:00:  Lecture 1,  Main concepts in atmospheric science; ( JM)
• Tuesday 15:15-17:00:   Lecture 2, Important environmental problems (JM)
• Thursday 13:15-17:00: Lecture 3, Practical exercise on measurement uncertainties (JM)
  • 2 h lecture and 2 h class room laboration. Bring laptop, calculator, paper and pen. 
• Friday 13:15-15:00: Lecture 4, Spectroscopic methods (all groups; MP)

Week 2 (week number 46):

Work on experiments and lecture.

Students have been organized into four groups: 1, 2, 3, and 4 

• Experiment A: Emission factors of fossil-fuel exhaust measured with FTIR spectroscopy (groups 1, 2).  Note that this experiment takes place in GEO lab (EDIT ,  building, floor 4, ED-4346, SEE department) 
  • Monday 13.15-16.00:  Laboratory experiment A (group 1 ; MP)
  • Tuesday 9-11.45:  Laboratory experiment A (group 2; MP)
  • Friday 15:15-16:00:  Supervision laboratory experiment A (group 1; MP), EDIT 4340
  • Friday 16:00-16:45:  Supervision laboratory experiment A (group 2; MP) EDIT 4340
• Experiment B: Environmental measurements with an in-situ gas and particle sensor unit (groups 3, 4) 
  • Tuesday 13.15-17:00:     Introduction and assignment of experiment B (groups 3, 4; JM & VC). 
  • Friday 15:15-16:00:  Supervision laboratory experiment B (group 3; JM & VC) 4315, Stora Mötesrummet,  EDIT
  • Friday 16:00-16:45:  Supervision laboratory experiment B (group 4; JM & VC) 4315, Stora Mötesrummet,  EDIT

• Friday 13:15-15:00:  Lecture 5,  Remote sensing of the environment (MP) 

 

Week 3 (week number 47):

Work on experiments and lecture.

• Experiment A (groups 1, 2) 
  • Tuesday 13:15-14:00: Supervision (groups 1; MP), 4315, Stora Mötesrummet,  EDIT
  • Tuesday 14:15-15:00: Supervision (groups 2; MP), 4315, Stora Mötesrummet,  EDIT
  • Thursday 13:15-14:00: Supervision (groups 1; MP), ORS lab
  • Thursday 14:00-14:45: Supervision (groups 2; MP), ORS lab
• Experiment B (groups 3, 4) Note that this experiment takes place in GEO lab (EDIT ,  building, floor 4, ED-4346, SEE department.
  • Tuesday 13:15-15:00: Calibrations (group 3; VC), ORS lab
  • Tuesday 15:15-17:00: Calibrations (group 4; VC), ORS-lab
  • Thursday 15:00-15:45:  Supervision (groups 3; JM, VC), EDIT 4340
  • Thursday 15:45-16:30:  Supervision (groups 4; JM, VC). EDIT 4340 

• Friday 13:15-15:00:  Lecture 6,  In-situ environmental measurement techniques (all groups; JM) 

 

Week 4 (week number 48):

Work on experiments and lecture. 

Tuesday:  : Report Deadline for experiments started in week 2

• Experiment A (groups 3, 4) Note that this experiment takes place in GEO lab (EDIT ,  building, floor 4, ED-4346, SEE department.
  • Tuesday 09:00-11:45:  Laboratory experiment A (group 3; MP)
  • Tuesday 13:15-17:00: Laboratory experiment A (group 4; MP)
  • Thursday 13:15-14:00:  Supervision (groups 3; MP)
  • Thursday 14:00-14:45:  Supervision (groups 4; MP)

 

• Experiment B (groups 1, 2)
  • Tuesday 08:00-11:45: Introduction and assignment of experiment B (groups 1, 2; JM,&VC
  • Thursday 15:00-15:45:  Supervision (groups 1; JM,VC)

• • Thursday 15:45:15-16:30:  Supervision (groups 2; JM, VC)

• Friday 13:15-15:00: Lecture  7, Need and complexity of measurements (all groups; JM)

Week 5 (week number 49):

Work on experiments, practical exercise and guest lecture. 

• Experiment A (groups 3, 4) 
  • Tuesday 13:15-14:00: Supervision (groups 3; MP).4315, Stora Mötesrummet
  • Tuesday 14:00-14:45: Supervision (groups 3; MP),4315, Stora Mötesrummet
• Experiment B (groups 1, 2) Note that this experiment takes place in GEO lab (EDIT ,  building, floor 4, ED-4346, SEE department. 
  • Tuesday 08:00-09:45: Calibrations (group 1; VC)
  • Tuesday 10:00-11:45: Calibrations (group 2; VC)
• Thursday 13:15-17:00 Experiment C: Optical remote sensing of sunlight induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) or possible alternative lab (TBD)   (all groups; MP, JM)
• Friday 13:15-15:00: Guest lecture by Samuel Brohede (FluxSense AB) on measurements of VOC emissions from oil and gas industries (all groups; JM)  TBC

Week 6 (week number 50):

Study visit and guest lectures. 

• Tuesday :  Deadline for report of experiments started in week 4
• Tuesday 13:15-17:00: Study visit to Onsala Space Observatory, Guest lecture by Maxime Prignon and Faustine Mascaut on atmospheric composition measurements using solar infrared measurements and passive microwave measurements (all groups; JM
• Friday 13:15-15:00: Guest lecture by Åsa Hallquist (IVL-Swedish Environmental Research Institute) on measurements of emission from transport (all groups; JM) TBC

Week 7 (week number 51):

Mini-workshop, quiz deadline and course wrap-up.

• Monday: Deadline for Quizzes
• Tuesday 13:15-17:00: Mini-workshop: presentations on final report (all groups; JM & MP)
• Thursday 13:15-15:00: Course wrap-up and preparations for exam

Attendance and final exam

Experiments, study visit and guest lectures are compulsory.

The final exam will include questions about lectures, guest lectures, experiments and study visit.

Course design

This is an experimental course with less emphasis on the techniques, and more on the planning, execution, reporting, and use of experimental work.

The course starts with a series of general lectures on environmental problems, the principles of spectroscopy, uncertainty analysis, remote and in-situ measurement techniques. This is used as the foundation for the design and practice of experiments. Knowledge is completed through quizzes and active learning in the classroom.

Experiments are designed to promote the creativity and initiative of the students. The goal is to gain insight on the complexity of all stages of an experiment and how to make use of the results for modelling purposes. Three experiments will be done using in-situ methods and remote sensing of gases, particles, and biological material under natural conditions.

Reports are an important part of the course, they should be formulated clearly, completely, and accurately. They should allow another experimenter to reproduce the results.

Guest lectures and study visits will be offered to expand the views and share expertise related but not identical to what is learned through the experiments.

Supervision will be offered to plan, conduct, and analyze the results of experiments.

A seminar with presentations of results will be organized to compare and discuss the different findings.

The final exam will include questions from all lectures, experiments, and the study visit.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

• Give examples of important environmental problems and explain the physical and chemical processes involved.
• List different measurement techniques that are commonly used to address these environmental problems and perform the corresponding measurements.
• Explain how geophysical information can be extracted from remote sensing and invasive/extractive measurements.
• Describe data evaluation, from measurement to geophysical product.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how uncertainties in measured data can affect model outputs.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

Course literature

No course textbook, but reading material will be distributed sequentially with the lectures, according to this table:

Lecture	Suggested reading	Comments
1, 2	IPCC reports (https://www.ipcc.ch/), working group1, with focus on the scientific basis. Global carbon project (https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/). General on environmental change: Graedel, T.E. and Crutzen, P.J., Atmospheric Change: an earth system perspective, Freeman, 1993. Claes Bernes, en varmare värld, växthuseffekten och klimatets förändringar, 3:e upplagan.
3	Uncertanty_calculations.pdf GUM uncertainty calculation https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides   p 44-5 23-24 Menditto,, Understanding Understanding the meaning of accuracy,trueness and precision  Understandingthemeaningofaccuracy....pdf
4
5
6
		Need and complexity of measurements
Lab A	Giechaskiel, B. and Clairotte, M., Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy for Measurements of Vehicle Exhaust Emissions: A Review. Appl. Sci. 11, 7416, 2021, https://doi.org/10.3390/app11167416
Lab C	Julitta, T., et al., Comparison of Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Estimates Obtained from Four Portable Field Spectroradiometers. Remote Sensing, 8, 122, 2016, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8020122 Liu, L, Zhang, Y, Wang J, Chunjiang Zhao, Detecting solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence from field radiance spectra based on the Fraunhofer line principle, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 43, 4, 827-832, 2005, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2005.843320

Safety considerations

• The experiments of this course will not include the exposure to dangerous substances, nor the handling of dangerous equipment.
• All equipment should be used with the consent and following instructions of a supervisor.
• There is also room for creativity in the design of the experiments, but any potential risk must be discussed and approved by the teachers.

Technical information:

Calibration files for experiment A