air resources laboratory
DESCRIPTION
Air Resources Laboratory. Steve Fine, Director. Outline. Background R&D Areas Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Air Quality Climate Boundary Layer. Genesis of Lab. 1948: Special Projects Section of U.S. Weather Bureau Provide meteorological expertise to other Federal agencies - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Air Resources Laboratory
Steve Fine, Director
Air Resources Laboratory 2
OutlineBackgroundR&D Areas
Atmospheric Transport and DispersionAir QualityClimateBoundary Layer
Genesis of Lab1948: Special Projects Section of
U.S. Weather BureauProvide meteorological expertise
to other Federal agenciesAtmospheric factors were very
important to emerging issues of the 1940s and 1950sCold War & Nuclear Arms Race
Weapons Testing Safety Detection
Nuclear energy: safetyEnvironmental protection
Climate work began in 1960s3
ARL Today~85 employees & contractorsR&D Areas
Atmospheric transport and dispersion
Air qualityClimatePlanetary boundary layer (PBL)
Area of emphasis for other topics Additional activities
Strong commitment to applications
Partner with a wide variety of other research institutions
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Lab Organization Four primary locations
1. Headquarters Atmos. transport & dispersion, air quality, climate
2. Atmospheric Turbulence &Diffusion Division Atmos. transport & dispersion,
air quality, climate, PBL3. Field Research Division
Atmos. transport &dispersion, PBL
4. Special Operations & Research Division Atmos. transport & dispersion, PBL
Staff at two additional locations5. NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office6. Canaan Valley Institute
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1456
Selected Activities
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Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion
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Atmospheric Transport & DispersionMotivations
Airborne hazardous materials can significantly impact communities (radiological, chemical, biological)
Volcanic plumes are a hazard to aviationGoal
Improve understanding and prediction of atmospheric transport, dispersion, and turbulence
BenefitsImproved protection of emergency management personnel
and the publicReduced impact to the economy
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HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) Model
Description Computes trajectories,
dispersion, and deposition Uses variety of meteorological fields Highly configurable, fast
Key Accomplishments Widespread use Easily applied to a broad range of
applications Transport scales 5 to 5000 km Radiological, fire smoke, dust, volcanic ash
Prototype web-based system for operational applicationsFuture Directions
Better estimates of uncertainties Better support for fine-scale emergency response operations
http://www.arl.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT_info.php
Selected HYSPLIT Applications
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Radiological Incidents /Intl. Atomic Energy Agency
Volcanic Ash Local EmergenciesWildfire SmokeBallooningDustCrop PathogensAir Quality
Krupa et al., 2006
Air Quality
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Air Quality R&D Motivations
Tens of thousands of premature deaths annually Health effects and emissions control
costs > $100B/year Significant ecosystem impacts
Goals Provide tools and information to
support policy and regulatoryassessments
Improve air quality prediction system Benefits
Well informed air quality policiesand regulations
Protection of public health More effective investments in air quality management
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Air Quality Forecast Guidance for Ozone and Fine Particulate MatterDescription
Real-time forecast system for NWS
Key AccomplishmentsOzone: Continental U.S.
operationalPM version being evaluatedResults used by forecasters
and the publicFuture Directions
Dust and other PMhttp://www.weather.gov/aq
Climate
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Climate R&DMotivations
Significant challenges remain in understanding climate variability and trends
Air-land processes that affect climate are not fully characterizedSignificant uncertainties in the regional impacts of climate change
Goals Improve observation and understanding of climate variability and
changeAssess regional climate impacts
BenefitsReduced impacts of climate change and/or mitigation costs
Climate Variability and Change AnalysisGoals:
Analyze diurnal to multi-decadal climate variations
Understand long-term changes
Selected topics: Data homogeneity adjustments Uncertainties & trend detection Solar, volcanic, El Niño, and quasi-biennial
signals in T & O3
Trend detection: T, water vapor, tropopause height, tropical belt
Analysis of radiosonde data Climatology of boundary layer
Potential future activities: T profiles, clouds, and circulation patterns
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Model-data comparisonsTrends in tropical temperature Response to volcanic eruptions
Lanzante and Free 2008Free and Lanzante 2008
Data Mean of 6 models
data models
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Boundary Layer ClimatologyDescription
Characterize climatology of the boundary layerUse radiosondes and GPS-based observations
Expected BenefitsUnderstand variability and change of the boundary layerEvaluate climate models
Preliminary results
Zhang, et al., in preparation for J. of Climate
Climate Extension of WRF
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Cloud
Radiation
Aerosol
DescriptionContribute to development of
regional climate modelingsystem
Advanced/flexible physics optionsClose partnership with academia
Key AccomplishmentsApplications to environmental,
agricultural, and water resourcesissues
Future DirectionsRelease as community modelMultiphysics ensembles
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Earth Systems Research LabAir Resources Lab
Surface Energy Budget Network
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Climate Reference NetworksGoals
Observe national/regional climate signalsHighly accurate/reliable observations
Roles (vary by network)Lead network establishmentAnalyze performance / designDesign instrument suiteInstall/maintain systems
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U.S. Climate Reference Network
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Barrow
Fairbanks
Sand Point
Port Alsworth
Sitka
Kenai NWR
Tetlin NWR
Red Dog Mine
Summit
Yakutat
St. Paul Is.
USCRN Benchmark Stations at 29 locations in Alaska to better document, monitor, and assess climate variability and change
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U.S. Regional Climate NetworkSouthwest Pilot Installations
48 USHCN-M Sites Installed
14 CRN
12 Installations in Queue
6 Installs in progress
70 SLAs in Progress
1 Paired CRN & USHCN-M
GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN)Goal: Reference-quality in
situ profile observations for long-term climate monitoring/ research and to support evaluation of satellites
ARL Roles Providing scientific guidance Development of network
requirements
Future directionsAnalysis of GRUAN
observations
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Boundary Layer
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Boundary LayerMotivations
Boundary layer is a critical factor in the interaction between the atmosphere and the land surface and in determining local conditions
GoalsDevelop observing technologies and approaches Improve process understanding Improve models
Benefits Improved analyses and predictions for weather, climate, air quality, dispersionAddress societal needs for aviation, fire weather, homeland security
ActivitiesMesonetsLow-level wind predictionsSoil moisture instrument comparisonSpatial variability of skin temperature
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Spatial Variability of Skin(Surface) Temperature
DescriptionImprove interpretation of
observations and predictions through better understanding of spatial variability of skin temperature
Key AccomplishmentsInitial comparison of measurements
from surface, aircraft, and satelliteFuture Directions
Measurements in more regionsBetter interpretation of observations
and estimates of uncertainties
-85.2 -85.1 -85 -84.935.9
35.95
36
36.05
36.1
Longitude(o)Longitude(o)Longitude(o)
Latit
ude(
oC
)
All Data(1Hz) -Crossville -Test flight April 29,2010 Temperature(oC)
-85.2 -85.1 -85 -84.935.9
35.95
36
36.05
36.1
10
20
30
40
-85.2 -85.1 -85 -84.935.9
35.95
36
36.05
36.1
END
Longitude(o)
STARTLatit
ude(
oC
)
600.00
811.11
1022.22
1233.33
1444.44
1655.56
1866.67
2077.78
2288.89
2500.00
Long
itude
(o)
Temperature(oC)
-85.2 -85.1 -85 -84.935.9
35.95
36
36.05
36.1
1000
1500
2000