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Documentation of the Evaluation of CALPUFF and Other Long ...

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start <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> release <strong>and</strong> is stretched from <strong>the</strong> west coast <strong>of</strong> Sweden in <strong>the</strong> north to Hungary in<br />

<strong>the</strong> South. <strong>CALPUFF</strong> is displacing <strong>the</strong> tracer too far to <strong>the</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>ast with <strong>the</strong> centerline over<br />

<strong>the</strong> North Sea stretching from <strong>the</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>rn tip <strong>of</strong> France to sou<strong>the</strong>rn tip <strong>of</strong> Sweden <strong>and</strong> missing<br />

most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer concentrations in France, Germany <strong>and</strong> Czechoslovakia. SCIPUFF<br />

covers <strong>the</strong> spatial extent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer cloud, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>n some, correctly estimating <strong>the</strong><br />

coverage across Germany <strong>and</strong> Czechoslovakia. FLEXPART reproduces <strong>the</strong> easterly transport <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> observed tracer clouds 36 hours after <strong>the</strong> start <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> release, but greatly underestimates<br />

<strong>the</strong> ground level plume spread. HYSPLIT also reproduces <strong>the</strong> easterly transport <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed<br />

tracer plume but also understates <strong>the</strong> plume spread missing <strong>the</strong> observed tracer concentrations<br />

in sou<strong>the</strong>rn Germany <strong>and</strong> Czechoslovakia. CAMx has a similar distribution as SCIPUFF with less<br />

<strong>of</strong> an overestimation bias locating <strong>the</strong> tracer center <strong>of</strong> mass slightly too far north. After 36<br />

hours from <strong>the</strong> start <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tracer release <strong>the</strong> leading edge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer is just<br />

entering Pol<strong>and</strong> from Germany, which is reproduced well by SCIPUFF, HYSPLIT <strong>and</strong> CAMx with<br />

FLEXPART having a lag <strong>and</strong> <strong>CALPUFF</strong> locating <strong>the</strong> leading edge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tracer too far north.<br />

By 48 hours after <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tracer release, <strong>the</strong> observed tracer cloud is exhibiting a<br />

northwest to sou<strong>the</strong>ast orientation stretching from Denmark in <strong>the</strong> northwest to Hungary in<br />

<strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>ast (Figure 6‐16c). The <strong>CALPUFF</strong> tracer plume, however, is advected too far north<br />

into <strong>the</strong> North Sea <strong>and</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn Finl<strong>and</strong> with a circular Gaussian puff distribution. SCIPUFF<br />

correctly reproduces <strong>the</strong> northwest to sou<strong>the</strong>ast orientation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer cloud <strong>and</strong><br />

almost completely covers <strong>the</strong> observed tracer cloud but appears to overestimate <strong>the</strong> spatial<br />

extent <strong>and</strong> concentrations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer. HYSPLIT <strong>and</strong> FLEXPART also are exhibiting a<br />

northwest to sou<strong>the</strong>ast orientation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer cloud but both models, <strong>and</strong><br />

especially FLEXPART, understate <strong>the</strong> spatial spread <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed ground level tracer<br />

concentrations. CAMx reproduces <strong>the</strong> northwest to sou<strong>the</strong>ast orientation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed<br />

tracer distribution <strong>and</strong> appears to better match <strong>the</strong> observed tracer plume spread than<br />

SCIPUFF (overstated) <strong>and</strong> FLEXPART <strong>and</strong> HYSPLIT (understated).<br />

After 60 hours after <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tracer release, <strong>the</strong> observed tracer cloud still has <strong>the</strong><br />

northwest to sou<strong>the</strong>ast orientation that stretches from sou<strong>the</strong>rn Finl<strong>and</strong> in <strong>the</strong> northwest to<br />

<strong>the</strong> most western point <strong>of</strong> Romania. The <strong>CALPUFF</strong> model has advected its circular puffs to <strong>the</strong><br />

north with <strong>the</strong> center over <strong>the</strong> North Sea just west <strong>of</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn Finl<strong>and</strong> almost completely<br />

missing <strong>the</strong> spatial extent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer. The o<strong>the</strong>r four LRT dispersion models are<br />

correctly estimating <strong>the</strong> northwest to sou<strong>the</strong>ast orientation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer pattern 60<br />

hours after <strong>the</strong> beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tracer release. However, <strong>the</strong> remaining four LRT models (less<br />

<strong>CALPUFF</strong>) estimate different amounts <strong>of</strong> plume spread with FLEXPART estimating a very narrow<br />

predicted tracer cloud that understates <strong>the</strong> observed spread <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tracer footprint. SCIPUFF<br />

estimated <strong>the</strong> largest spatial extent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tracer cloud that is much larger than observed.<br />

HYSPLIT <strong>and</strong> CAMx estimated tracer spread that is closer to what was observed.<br />

The comparison <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> spatial distribution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> predicted <strong>and</strong> observed tracer concentrations<br />

from <strong>the</strong> ETEX1 experiment helps explain <strong>the</strong> statistical model performance presented earlier.<br />

The poor performance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>CALPUFF</strong> model is because it keeps <strong>the</strong> tracer in a circular<br />

Gaussian plume distribution that is advected too far north <strong>and</strong> fails to reproduce <strong>the</strong> elongation<br />

<strong>and</strong> stretching <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer cloud in <strong>the</strong> northwest to sou<strong>the</strong>ast orientation. The<br />

o<strong>the</strong>r four LRT dispersion models do allow <strong>the</strong> predicted tracer cloud to take on <strong>the</strong> northwest<br />

to sou<strong>the</strong>ast distribution matching <strong>the</strong> basic features <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> observed tracer footprint well, but<br />

with different amounts <strong>of</strong> plume spread. FLEXPART greatly understates <strong>the</strong> amount <strong>of</strong> tracer<br />

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