Monitoring Gas Emissions From Landfill Sites

Abstract

Gas emission from landfill is related to both site conditions and environmental changes, yet almost no data are being gathered in the field to describe this linkage adequately. In this paper the results of a review of selected sites in the UK and Germany are presented: they illustrate how even continuous recording proves insufficient for the purpose of explaining gas emissions from site. Site stratigraphy must be known in some detail if either continuous or frequent recording is to be used meaningfully, because site stratigraphy largely governs the pathways available for gas migration. As shown in the example presented here, it is also necessary to add a record of site history to that of site stratigraphy and environmental change if records of gas emission with time are to be properly interpreted. © 1997 ISWA