Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Cattle Feedlot
First results from a collaborative study to quantify Greenhouse Gas Emissions
from a 17,000+ cattle feedlot near Charlton, VIC. using airborne technologies
Transects flown at 60m AGL perpendicular to the prevailing NW-wind (2-3m s-1) from 380m upwind of the centre of the feedlot to 1.3km downwind of it. Red sticks show CH4 concentrations above the average along each transect. Maximum CH4 concentration levels (in ppb) are given for each transect.
Soon to be updated to include NH3 (ammonia) measurements
Seven plume transects flown at 30m AGL over the feedlot under prevailing steady southerly winds averaging 7ms-1. Blue, purple and red lines and filled areas show absolute concentration levels of NH3 in ppb. The location of the actual transect is at the bottom of each filled area. All transects scaled identically. Maximum levels of NH3 levels are given in ppb for each transect shown as are the transect numbers.
A comprehensive paper has just been accepted by the Animal Production Sciences and will soon become available as: Hacker et al., 2016: Using airborne technology to quantify and apportion emissions of CH4 and NH3 from feedlots.
In collaboration with
CSIRO Methane Cluster
The University of Melbourne
University of Alberta
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Metair AG, Switzerland
ZHAW (Zurich University of Applied Sciences), Switzerland
KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, IMK-IFU), Germany
Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Mass., USA
partly funded by the MLA (Meat and Livestock Australia)
and the ARC (Australian Research Council)