New Mexico Pilot Study: Salt Creek and White Mountain Wilderness areas Prepared by: Ilias Kavouras, Vic Etyemezian, Jin Xu, Dave DuBois, Marc Pitchford Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute Prepared for: Western Regional Air Partnership, Dust Emissions Joint Forum Tempe, 11/15/2005

Salt Creek and White Mountain areas: Significant coefficients from wind vs. dust regression

Confidence level3-515 Windblown dust and Upwind Transport175 Unknown0 Salt Creek EHA results

White Mountain EHA results Confidence level3-515 Windblown dust and Upwind Transport73 Unknown0

Scope of the study and methodology Identify the source areas that contributed to elevated dust concentrations during the worst dust days over the period 2001 – 2003 at Salt Creek and White Mountain Wildernesses areas in NM Develop a metric of windblown dust for each area utilizing 1. Dust emissions potential 2. Trajectory analysis Windblown Dust Index

Dust Emission Potential (DEP) for US Wind Erodibility Group (WEG) Source: US Department of Agriculture. National Resources Conservation Services National Soil Survey Handbook: Soil Properties and Qualities (Part 618); Data were obtained from: - Indicator of susceptibility to wind erosion - Classifies soils with similar properties of the soil surface affecting their resistance to soil blowing in cultivated areas. - The range of valid entries for wind erodibility group data is 1, 2, 3, 4, 4L, 5, 6, 7, and 8

Dust Emission Potential (DEP) for US

Dust Emission Potential (DEP) for Mexico AVHRR Global Land Cover Classification NASA/NOAA Pathfinder Land (PAL) data to GLCF1 km, Lat/Long North America 13 classes of land cover 1. Water 2-3. Evergreen Forest 4. Deciduous Forest 5. Mixed Forest 6. Woodland 7. Wooded grasslands Data were obtained from: 8. Closed shrubland 9. Open shrubland 10. Grassland 11. Cropland 12. Bare ground 13. Urban and built-up 1. Combination of land use and WEG data for Mexico areas near US 2. Divide southwest US in four regions 3. Extract WEG values for land use categories for each region 4. Reclassify Mexico Land use data using extracted WEG

Divide northern Mexico into four regions

DEP derived from land use and WEG correlations for each region

Differences between WEG only and WEG/Land use DEP derived values for each cell 0.14 = one WEG category

Trajectory analysis NOAA HYSPLIT trajectory model Duration: 48-h Frequency: Every 3 hours Resolution: 1 hour Starting heights: 500 m.a.g.l. Trajectory speed (km/h) = distance between two trajectory points 0 – 14 miles/hour 14 – 20 miles/hour > 20 miles/hour Integration using the Kernel spatial probability density normalized by the total number of points Identify areas where trajectory speed was higher than 20 or 26 miles/hour during worst dust days

Trajectory analysis (for White Mountain during worst dust days, speed > 20 mph)

Windblown Dust Index DEP X Traj. Density = Windblown Dust Index 0.00 < WDI < 1.00 A metric of the influence of surrounding areas on Salt Creek and White Mountain dust concentrations Highlights areas with potential high influence Specific to the site, trajectory speed criteria, and time period WDI can be divided by distance from site To: - Take into account dilution en route to site; - Highlight the contribution of local sources

WDI Salt Creek Traj. Speed > 20 mph

Contours of equal WDI for Salt Creek Traj. Speed > 20 mph

WDI/distance ratio Salt Creek Traj. Speed > 20 mph

WDI White Mountain Traj. Speed > 20 mph

Contours of equal WDI for White Mountain Traj. Speed > 20 mph

WDI/distance ratio White Mountain Traj. Speed > 20 mph

Winter Spring Summer Fall

Winter Spring SummerFall

Deliverables of the study Final report Maps of DEP for US and Mexico Annual and seasonal maps Identify windblown and upwind transport dust areas And Evaluate their impact And Associate with land cover and land use activities