Picarro's singular mission is to produce the world's highest performance and easiest to use gas analyzers. With ppt sensitivity to %-level measurements, months or years of calibration-free operation, and a 10-minute set up, this incredibly rare combination of attributes enables our customers to make the highest quality measurements both in the modern lab and in the most remote locations imaginable.

Every possible source of industrial and municipal emissions are subject to increasing regulation either for worker safety, to improve air quality, or as part of larger state, national and international greenhouse gas reduction strategies and protocols. Regardless of whether the customer is an expert scientist who values performance foremost, an engineer who demands quality and uptime from a solution, or a field technician who values simple installation and little maintenance, Picarro analyzers are the emerging standard.

Based on technology originally licensed from Stanford University and further strengthened by 9 additional Picarro patents, our WS-CRDS analyzers offer unprecedented sensitivity, selectivity and stability all in an elegantly simple, turnkey design. All Picarro products are produced through a world-class manufacturing process that ensures rock-solid reliability. Picarro is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

The need for accurate measurement of the three principal greenhouse gases is growing rapidly. These requirements are being driven by the need to understand global warming, conduct climate modeling, and to comply with protocols, international agreements, and national and local verification. The Picarro G1301 is the only instrument that can make all these measurements and also act as a direct reference/standards transfer. Specifically, its compact portability means the G1301 operates equally well in the reference laboratory, as a portable spot measurement tool, or remotely as an unattended continuous monitoring station. It combines parts per billion sensitivity with the dynamic range necessary to measure undiluted ambient atmospheric levels of these species. And because it is a fully self-contained, rugged instrument with no moving parts, the G1301 can operate for up to months in the field without the use of calibration gases.

Because the G1301 analyzer is based on WS-CRDS technology there is no crosstalk between the CO2, CH4 and H2O detection channels and all three channels are unaffected by changes in other gas species. Also, data are immune to changes in ambient temperature and pressure.

 

California Sets Up Statewide Network to Monitor Global-Warming Gases

 

By TODD WOODY

Published: February 2, 2010

 

SAN FRANCISCO — California is preparing to introduce the first statewide system of monitoring devices to detect global-warming emissions, installing them on towers throughout the state.

The monitoring network, which is expected to grow, will initially focus on pinpointing the sources and concentrations of methane, a potent contributor to climate change. The California plan is an early example of the kind of system that may be needed in many places as countries develop plans to limit their emissions of greenhouse gases.

“This is the first time that this is being done anywhere in the world that we know of,” said Jorn Dinh Herner, a scientist with the California Air Resources Board.

While monitoring stations around the globe already detect carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases, they are deliberately placed in remote locations and are generally intended to measure average global concentrations of greenhouse gases rather than local emissions.

The California network, by contrast, is meant to help the state find specific sources of emissions, as well as to verify the state’s overall compliance with a plan it adopted to limit greenhouse gases.

The air resources board has bought seven portable analyzers made by Picarro, a company in Silicon Valley that also supplies the machines to the federal government and academic scientists.

By this summer, the analyzers will be deployed on towers in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, home to large agricultural operations and oil fields, and on Mount Wilson, outside Los Angeles. Data will also be collected from Picarro machines maintained by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on the coast and from several monitoring stations operated by other agencies.

Depending on local topography and weather conditions, one Picarro analyzer can cover as much as several hundred miles, the scientists said. For instance, a machine installed on a mountain peak can collect data from most of the Los Angeles basin.

The state’s global warming law requires that greenhouse gas emissions be cut to 1990 levels by 2020. To achieve such reductions, the state is planning an emissions-trading market whose integrity will depend on accurate measurement of the gases from oil refineries, power plants and other industrial facilities.

“I think these monitoring networks are going to be essential, as we really need to have a system in place that makes sure markets match reality,” said Pieter Tans, a senior scientist in Colorado with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The air resources board uses computer modeling to estimate greenhouse gas emissions in the state. The first task of the new network will be to see if actual concentrations of methane match those estimates.

A Picarro analyzer costs $50,000. It is about the size of a desktop PC and takes precise, real-time measurements of greenhouse gases. Picarro’s chief executive, Michael Woelk, said his company’s scientists had charted plumes of methane by placing an analyzer in a car and driving from Livermore, Calif., to Sacramento, a route heavy with animal feedlots, truck depots and other industrial operations.

 

“This is the first critical step to building a nationwide monitoring network,” Mr. Woelk said.