Across North America Tracer Experiment (ANATEX). Model evaluation study. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6448468

Clark, T L; Cohn, R D

Three perfluorocarbon tracer gases were released at 2.5-day or 5.0-day intervals from two sites in central North America and sampled for 24-hr periods at 77 surface sites. The source-receptor distances ranged from less than 30 km to 3,000 km. The data were used to evaluate the long-range transport and diffusion simulations of acid deposition models and to establish a range of uncertainty for various model genres. The performances of three single-layer Lagrangian, six multiple-layer Lagrangian, and two multiple-layer Eulerian models were assessed using quantifiable measures based on comparisons of ensemble mean concentrations and plume widths as well as trajectory errors expressed as a function of transport time. In general, the multiple-layer Lagrangian models performed best in simulating the transport of the tracers, while the Eulerian models performed best in simulating the ensemble concentration frequency distributions. After 0.5 day of transport, trajectory errors ranged from 100 km to 400 km; after 2.5 days, the errors ranged from 300 km to 800 km. Beyond 2.5 days, errors from four Lagrangian models plateaued, while errors for the other models continued to increase, peaking at nearly 1,100 km after 3.5 days.

• Research Organization: Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (USA). Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6448468
• Report Number(s): PB-90-261454/XAB; EPA--600/3-90/051
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ACID RAIN
AIR POLLUTION
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
DATA COVARIANCES
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FREONS
FUNCTIONS
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
LAGRANGIAN FUNCTION
LONG-RANGE TRANSPORT
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
PROGRESS REPORT
RAIN
SIMULATION
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRAJECTORIES