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Title: Three-dimensional forecasting models on a desk-top computer

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6811824

Recent advances in the desk-top computer capabilities, particularly those of an engineering workstation, are truly astonishing. A high performance workstation reportedly exceeded a supercomputer in certain scaler operations. Affordability and portability of a desk- top computer opened doors to many applications which were previously considered impossible. The purpose of the present study is to demonstrate the feasibility of using and engineering workstation to operate a three-dimensional mesoscale modeling system to describe the transport and dispersion of atmospheric pollutants over complex terrain surrounding Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), Vandenberg, California. Our modeling system is composed of two numerical codes, HOTMAC, and RAPTAD. HOTMAC is a mesoscale forecast code that is able to model three-dimensional distributions of wind speed, wind direction, turbulence, temperature, and water vapor. RAPTAD is a Lagrangian puff code based on the Monte Carlo statistical diffusion process. RAPTAD can be used under extreme conditions where a conventional Gaussian plume model may fail.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOD
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
6811824
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-90-1386; CONF-9009134-1; ON: DE90010612
Resource Relation:
Conference: ENVIRONSOFT '90: 3. international conference, Montreal (Canada), 11-13 Sep 1990
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English