Reconstruction of an atmospheric tracer source in Fusion Field Trials: Analyzing resolution features
Résumé
Reconstruction of unknown atmospheric releases using measured concentrations is an ill-posed inverse problem. Due to insufficient measurements and dispersion model uncertainties, reliable interpretation of a retrieved source is limited by lack of resolution, nonuniqueness, and instability in the inverse solution. The study presents an optimality analysis, in terms of resolution, stability, and reliability, of an inverse solution given by a recently proposed inversion technique, called as renormalization. The inversion technique is based on an adjoint source-receptor framework and construction of a weight function which interprets a priori information about the unknown release apparent to the monitoring network. The properties of weight function provide a perfect data resolution, maximum model resolution, and minimum variance (or stability) for the retrieved source. The reliability of the retrieved source is interpreted in view of the information derived from the geometry of the monitoring network. The inversion technique and resolution features are evaluated for a point source reconstruction using measurements from a recent dispersion experiment (Fusion Field Trials 2007) conducted at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. With the real measurements, the point release is reconstructed within an average distance of 23m from the true release where the average distance of the nearest receptor from the true source was 32m. In all the trials, the point release is retrieved within 3-60m Euclidean distance from their true location. The source strength is retrieved within a factor of 1.5 to the true release mass. The posterior uncertainty in the release parameters is observed to be within 20% of their mean value. The source localization features are resolved to its maximum extent feasible with the design of the monitoring network. The sensitivity studies are conducted to highlight the importance of receptors reporting zero concentration measurements and variations in the resolution features of the source retrieval with respect to the various arrangements of the receptors.