Generic Guidance and Optimum Model Settings for the CALPUFF ...

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3.6 Calm winds Calm and stagnant conditions are characterized by synoptic pressure gradients so weak that they have little or no effect on air flow near the ground. This flow and the turbulence accompanying it are driven mostly by surface heat flux inducing buoyancy, which interacts with terrain slopes. The resulting flows and diffusion patterns created by these flows are as varied as are topographies. Short term diffusion is also strongly affected by uneven surface heating or cooling induced by various sun azimuth and elevations, uneven surface cover, soil type and moisture, even by cloud shadowing. Steady state Gaussian plume models such as AUSPLUME, ISCST3, and AERMOD are unable to treat true calm wind and stagnation events due to the inverse wind speed dependency as shown in the equation below. Q C ~ u x� * y � v x � y � u � u ~ u in AUSPLUME, AERMOD and ISCT3 v , * ISCST3 and AERMOD use the same routines for processing calm hours, namely hourly predicted concentrations for zero winds are not considered valid and treated as missing. As well as the above treatment, ISCST3 also had a NOCALM option which modeled the calm hours’ by setting the wind speed to 1.0 m/s. AUSPLUME modifies the wind speed data so that an hour with a wind speed of less than 0.5 m in the meteorological file are assumed to have a wind speed of 0.5 m/s. Neither of these treatments is realistic, these steady state models either underpredict the effect of calms since the calm hours are effectively thrown out, or they allow a plume released in these conditions to travel a minimum of 1-2 km an hour. A calm hour in either an AUSPLUME or AERMOD meteorological file is identified by a reference wind speed of 0.0 m/s in the meteorological file and left as such so their input files may be used by other models. CALPUFF on the other hand does not have any limitations to a minimum permissible wind speed and will allow a puff to grow and diffuse with time without advecting the puff anywhere. This is very important for stagnation events – extended periods of true calm events where puffs are allowed to accumulate with time. Comparison of CALPUFF (15-minute time step) to the STAGMAP data set, (Stagnation Model Analysis, Medford, Oregon 1991) showed very good agreement with SF6 Tracer releases under multiple hours of true calm conditions (Barclay 2008). 30
In CALPUFF, by default, a calm period is defined as that when the puff transport speed is less than the user-supplied threshold speed which has a current default value of 0.5 m/s. The default calm threshold speed is used to identify periods when the transport distances are minimal, but not zero. In CALPUFF, several adjustments are automatically made to the normal algorithms to simulate calm periods. These adjustments affect the way the slugs are released, the way gradual plume rise is addressed, the way near-source effects are simulated and the way the puff size changes during each sampling step. Conceptually, under calm conditions it is expected that a fresh release will rise virtually straight up from the source and disperse as a function of time due to wind fluctuations about a mean of zero. The following adjustments are made to puffs released into a calm period � Slugs are released as puffs, the length of the slug is zero � All mass for the period (typically one hour) is placed into one puff � The distance to final rise is set to zero (therefore no gradual plume rise) � Building downwash effects are not included � The growth of σy and σz is based on time, rather than distance traveled during the sampling step, regardless of the dispersion option chosen by the user in the control file � Minimum values of turbulence velocities for σv and σw are imposed. When CALMET has been used, u* and w* may be available even when the puff transport speed is less than the threshold, so that turbulence can be estimated. However, it is recognized that this may not be a robust procedure if the wind data used by CALMET includes true calms, since under these conditions estimates of turbulence velocities σv and σw can be indeterminate. CALPUFF relies on these velocities to grow the puffs using time dependent dispersion formulas during periods that are calms which can occur under both stable and convective conditions. There are two ways to improve CALPUFF’s behaviour in calm conditions, the first is to use subhourly meteorological data and the second is to use sub hourly meteorological data combined with true measured turbulence parameters, σv and σw. This is discussed below; 3.6.1 Sub hourly meteorological data and its usage in CALPUFF Steady state Gaussian regulatory models are traditionally limited to a one hour time step and one hour meteorological data even though sub-hourly meteorological data is typically recorded and stored at most Automatic weather stations around the world. Of the currently available regulatory models CALPUFF is the only regulatory model that is able to use sub hourly meteorological and emissions data. The consequences of this for realistically modelling calm conditions are significant. True calm/stagnation events seldom last longer than several consecutive hours at a time before some instability, mechanical or convective destroys’ the event. Traditional models with their 31
Page 1 and 2: Generic Guidance and Optimum Model
Page 3 and 4: Contents SCOPE OF WORK AND BACKGROU
Page 5 and 6: LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 2-1. Fi
Page 7 and 8: SCOPE OF WORK AND BACKGROUND A.1 In
Page 9 and 10: 1. INTRODUCTION The CALPUFF modelin
Page 11 and 12: 2.3 Methodologies for Running CALME
Page 13 and 14: hourly profiles of wind speed, wind
Page 15 and 16: Table 2-2. Model Option Switches fo
Page 17 and 18: 2.3.4 Single Station Meteorology It
Page 19 and 20: Note that in no-observations (No-Ob
Page 21 and 22: Table 2-3. Tabulated List of Variou
Page 23 and 24: 3 RECOMMENDED MODEL OPTION SETTINGS
Page 25 and 26: Ridge 1 distance (km) Ridge 2 Figur
Page 27 and 28: Boundary Layer (TIBL) over the land
Page 29 and 30: � algorithms were designed to tre
Page 31 and 32: Figure 3-3. Shows a cross-section o
Page 33 and 34: 3.5.2 Evaluation Studies Figure 3-6
Page 35: AERMOD BLP 60 70 80 90 95 98 99 Cum
Page 39 and 40: UTM Y Coordinate (km) - WGS84 6474.
Page 41 and 42: It is important to note that no eva
Page 43 and 44: 6474.5 6474 6473.5 6473 6472.5 6472
Page 45 and 46: sigma v (CALPUFF calculated) Figure
Page 47 and 48: 4. DISCUSSION ON THE APPROPRIATE PR
Page 49 and 50: 4.3.1 Graphical Evaluation Graphica
Page 51 and 52: (uncorrelated). A line of best fit,
Page 53 and 54: 4.3.3 Other Meteorological Evaluati
Page 55 and 56: Schulman, L.L. and J.S. Scire, 1980
Page 57 and 58: Table A-1. An Explanation of the 7
Page 59 and 60: Table A-1 An Explanation of the 7 C
Page 61 and 62: Table A-2 Explanation and Recommend
Page 67 and 68: Table A-4. Explanation and Recommen
Page 69: Table A-4 Explanation and Recommend

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