Green River air quality model development: meteorological and tracer data, July/August 1982 field study in Brush Valley, Colorado

Technical Report · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6984500· OSTI ID:6984500

Whiteman, C D; Lee, R N; Orgill, M M; Zak, B D

Meteorological and atmospheric tracer studies were conducted during a 3-week period in July and August of 1982 in the Brush Creek Valley of northwestern Colorado. The objective of the field experiments was to obtain data to evaluate a model, called VALMET, developed at PNL to predict dispersion of air pollutants released from an elevated stack located within a deep mountain valley in the post-sunrise temperature inversion breakup period. Three tracer experiments were conducted in the valley during the 2-week period. In these experiments, sulfur hexafluoride (SF/sub 6/) was released from a height of approximately 100 m, beginning before sunrise and continuing until the nocturnal down-valley winds reversed several hours after sunrise. Dispersion of the sulfur hexafluoride after release was evaluated by measuring SF/sub 6/ concentrations in ambient air samples taken from sampling devices operated within the valley up to about 8 km down valley from the source. An instrumented research aircraft was also used to measure concentrations in and above the valley. Tracer samples were collected using a network of radio-controlled bag sampling stations, two manually operated gas chromatographs, a continuous SF/sub 6/ monitor, and a vertical SF/sub 6/ profiler. In addition, basic meteorological data were collected during the tracer experiments. Frequent profiles of vertical wind and temperature structure were obtained with tethered balloons operated at the release site and at a site 7.7 km down the valley from the release site. 10 references, 63 figures, 50 tables.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6984500
• Report Number(s): PNL-5163; ON: DE84014975
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500101* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- Radiometric Techniques-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AERIAL MONITORING
AIR POLLUTION
AIR SAMPLERS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
COLORADO
COMPLEX TERRAIN
COMPUTER CODES
DATA
DIFFUSION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METEOROLOGY
MONITORING
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
POLLUTION
REMOTE SENSING
SAMPLERS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR FLUORIDES
TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS
TESTING
TOPOGRAPHY
TRACER TECHNIQUES
USA
V CODES
VALIDATION