1. NW-AIRQUEST projects on Agricultural and Wildfire Smoke in the Inland Northwest: ClearSky and AIRPACT-3 presented by: Joe Vaughan WSU-LAR contributors: Jack Chen, WSU-LAR; Rahul Jain, Golman Associates; Kyle Heitkamp, Geomatrix, Inc.; Brian Lamb, WSU-LAR WRAP - Fire Emissions Joint Forum Meeting October 18, 2006, Spokane, WA,

2. Outline NW-AIRQUEST ClearSky –System design –Plume Rise Field Studies –Initial ClearSky Evaluation –Ensemble Effort AIRPACT-3 –System design –BlueSky wildfire emissions –Wildfire results

3. What is NW-AIRQUEST? Northwest and International Air Quality, Environmental Science and Technology Consortium Organized in response to results of the Northwest Air Summit of June 2003 Inspired by Northwest Regional Technical Center’s success in supporting and utilizing regional meteorological forecasting (MM5 at UW). Committed to supporting air quality policy with best available science

4. MM5 CALMET CALPUFF u, v formatted for each layer of CALMET u, v formatted for each layer of CALMET 3D met field ----------------- u, v, w, T, BL variables 3D met field ----------------- u, v, w, T, BL variables Web-served PM2.5 plume animations Web-served PM2.5 plume animations IC/BC (GFS) landuse terrain Hybrid emissions generation MCIP ClearSky Ag-Burn Smoke Dispersion Modeling System www.clearsky.wsu.edu Ag-burn scenarios from web-based user interface

5. ClearSky Domains and Scenario Generator Results?

6. ClearSky Plume Rise Field Study Objective: Evaluate CALPUFF plume rise –Measure top of plume height –Collect meteorological data –Document burns visually (Photographs) Methods –Aircraft measurements –Ground-based measurements –CALPUFF reruns

7. Field Burn Overview 76 to 122 Acres Wheat Stubble & Kentucky Bluegrass

8. Field Burn Surface Data Blank areas represent missing or malfunctioning equipment Field Loading ClearSky currently uses: 2-6 Ton/Acre (Wheat Stubble) 2.8 Ton/Acre (KGB)

9. CALPUFF Reruns CALMET file from burn day recovered Emission files modified for field burn –Field location, area, burn time, field loading CALPUFF code modified to output plume heights –Buoyant Line Source (fire front) Final plume height –Buoyant Area Source (smoldering field) Plume evolution

10. Plume Rise Results from Original ClearSky 6 underestimated plume height 1 overestimated plume height 1 not compared due to large variation in observations

11. Update Emission Parameters from Evaluation of ClearSky (Jain, 2004) and by reference to Air Sciences Field Studies Effective Height of Emissions (m)0.5 Temperature (K)333324 Effective Rise Velocity (m/s)0.011.4 Initial Vertical Spread (m)100 Line Height (m)10.5 Average Line Width (m)55 Temperature (K)573361 Buoyant Area Source Previous Value Updated Value Buoyant Line Source Exit Velocity (m/s)0.5 2.2

12. Final Results 2 underestimated plume height, slightly 2 - 3 overestimated plume height Newer emission parameters increase plume rise

13. ClearSky Evaluation 2003 ClearSky Evaluation (Jain, 2004): –ClearSky is highly sensitive to Wind Speed & Wind Direction –Small differences in wind direction determine whether or not smoke plumes are predicted to affect an air quality monitoring station –How to represent the uncertainty of the meteorological conditions? Suggested an Ensemble Meteorology approach! Another story …for another time!?

14. Now... on to AIRPACT Wildfire presentation by Jack Chen

15. Applied Sciences Program Approach to Integrated System Solutions for A Comprehensive Regional Air-Quality Decision Support System for the Pacific Northwest