A methodology is presented to address emission rates distribution reconstruction over an area fugitive source. The methodology involves a unique configuration, in which the main measurement path of the Open-Path FTIR system, located downwind from the source, is divided into several secondary paths. A previously examined and validated analytical inversion technique is used, combined with plume dispersion modeling techniques, to reconstruct the emission rates distribution from different strips of the fugitive source, parallel to wind direction. Applying the previous method at a different wind direction enable, by using an iterative inversion technique, to map the emission rates distribution over the fugitive area source. Since the inversion procedure is an underdetermined problem, a synthetic computational study was conducted to determine the boundaries confirming the space of possible solutions of the proposed methodology. The methodology can be applied in some cases to identify the location and the strength of one or two stronger sub-areas of emission.
