Non-Invasive Assessment of Aircraft Engine Particulate Matter Emissions with Lidar

Particulate matter (PM) emitted by aircraft engines primarily consists of soot particles formed through incomplete fuel combustion, which can act as ice nuclei in the formation of contrails and contribute to poor air quality around airports. A novel technique is introduced to investigate aircraft engine PM emissions using a short-range elastic backscattering lidar. This approach was validated through trials conducted at the Airbus Bikini test site using the compact and field-deployable Colibri Aerosol Lidar (CAL) sensor. This instrument enables rapid, non-invasive, and remote measurement of volume backscatter profiles, which can be converted into PM mass and number concentrations without the need to sample particles from the aircraft exhaust. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility and potential of using a short-range elastic backscattering lidar for remote assessment of aircraft PM emissions across various engine thrust levels.