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Title: Prognostic Modeling of Long-Range Atmospheric Pollutant Transport for ETEX

Conference ·
OSTI ID:125175

The ability to forecast the transport and diffusion of airborne contaminants over long distances is vital when responding to nuclear emergencies. Atmospheric models used in such emergency response applications must be able to include the effects of the evolving synoptic weather systems in a timely manner. The European Tracer EXperiment (ETEX), conducted in October and November 1994, is designed to evaluate the performance of such models. In addition to the tracer experiments, concurrent real-time modeling exercises were conducted by some 24 organizations world-wide, including the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) of the U.S. Department of Energy`s Savannah River Site. This paper describes the forecast results obtained by atmospheric modelers at SRTC in applying an advanced three-dimensional modeling system to forecast tracer transport and diffusion during ETEX. Forecast results from the first of two tracer experiments are presented in this preprint paper. Data for the tracer gas concentrations is not yet available; however, surface and sounding data are available from the time periods of the releases. This paper will focus on the evaluation of the forecasts in light of the surface wind data, and relate the forecast evaluations to the differences in the tracer gas dispersion predicted using these forecasts. Plume transport and diffusion results were reported previously.

Research Organization:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-89SR18035
OSTI ID:
125175
Report Number(s):
WSRC-MS-95-0369; CONF-960134-2; ON: DE96060019; TRN: 94T00383
Resource Relation:
Conference: 9. joint conference on the applications of air pollution meteorology, Atlanta, GA (United States), 28 Jan - 2 Feb 1996; Other Information: PBD: 14 Sep 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English