Prognostic atmospheric and dispersion modeling in the vicinity of Rocky Flats Plant

Conference · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:85703

Fast, J D

A multiscale four-dimensional data assimilation technique is incorporated into a mesoscale model and evaluated using meteorological and tracer data collected during the Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) field experiment in the winter of 1991. The mesoscale model is used to predict the interaction of synoptically-driven flows and small-scale circulations influenced by terrain along the Front Range in Colorado in the vicinity of the Rocky Flats Plant for four nocturnal periods during the ASCOT field experiment. Data assimilation is used to create dynamically consistent analysis fields based on the mesoscale forecasts and the special asynoptic data taken during this experiment. The wind and turbulence quantities produced by the mesoscale model are then used to determine the dispersion of a tracer released from the Rocky Flats Plant for each evening. The mesoscale model is able to qualitatively predict the mesobeta-scale drainage flows from the Front Range into the South Platte River basin; however, the largest forecast errors occurred in a region immediately adjacent to the foothills. As expected, the current data assimilation technique reduced the overall errors in the atmospheric and dispersion calculations while the model generated realistic small-scale circulations not resolved by the data. Still, the model did not capture the shallow surface drainage flows just east of the Rocky Flats Plant for two of the evenings during the field experiment.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830; AC09-89SR18035
• OSTI ID: 85703
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA--25632; CONF-950430--7; ON: DE95014193
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
COMPLEX TERRAIN
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
METEOROLOGY
NIGHT SKY
ROCKY FLATS PLANT
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TURBULENCE
WIND