Patent ID: 6756592
Filing Date: 2004-06-29
Classification: G01J,G01N

Abstract:
A gas correlation camera comprising at least three gas correlation cells, one of said cells filled with a first gas capable of absorbing infrared radiation at one infrared band, and another of said cells filled with a second gas capable of absorbing infrared radiation at another infrared band, and a third of said cells that does not absorb infrared radiation, and wherein the gas correlation camera further comprises a camera with imaging optics and 2-D array detector for determining the spatial distributions of both the spectral and energy content of said first infrared band and the spectral and energy content of said second infrared band and using the third cell as a null (non-absorbing) energy content reference, and wherein measurements are made using two different absorption bands of CH4, one at wavelengths shorter than 3 micrometers and one at wavelengths greater than 3 micrometers, thus permitting the use of both solar reflected and terrestrially emitted infrared radiation for remote sensing measurements of CH4.