How to Estimate Energy Lost to Gravitational Waves (revised)

The energy--momentum radiated in gravitational waves by an isolated source is given by a formula of Bondi. This formula is highly non--local: the energy--momentum is not given as the integral of a well--defined local density. It has therefore been unclear whether the Bondi formula can be used to get information from gravity--wave measurements. In this note, we obtain, from local knowledge of the radiation field, a lower bound on the Bondi flux