Panoramic Gas Lidar Measurements

It’s a ‘Where's Waldo’s methane balloon?’ edition of Plume of the Week! Can you spot Waldo’s balloon filled with 2% methane? (Waldo has been omitted for clarity). This image, from our Bristol lab’s balcony, represents a full 360° view starting on the left where we’re pointing "behind" the camera’s position at our windows. At the center of the image are the houses and trees beyond the balcony, and on the right is the other side of the balcony. This panoramic image was made by stitching together several of the circular fields of view from our gas imaging lidar camera. You can see that, depending on the strength of the returned, scattered lidar signal, in some places the laser is penetrating the glass and we measure the range to the window blinds, and in other places the stronger returns are from the laser reflecting off the coated windows, in which case we’re measuring the range of scene out beyond the balcony.