HYSPLIT

Glenn Gehring, Technology Specialist IIITribal Air Monitoring Support Center

glenn.gehring@nau.edu541-612-0899

Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated

Trajectory model

WHAT??

I think I’ll call it HYSPLIT

What??

Who Provides it?• The Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) provides

products related to atmospheric dispersion and air quality including the HYSPLIT model

• ARL was mandated by Congress shortly after WWII to address concerns about pollution transport (nuclear fallout was among the initial concerns)

• ARL is now within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which also houses the National Weather Service

What HYSPLIT Does• HYSPLIT is a modeling tool used for computing both

wind trajectories in three dimensions and complex pollutant dispersion, as well as deposition patterns

• It can be used on-line or downloaded and used on your computer

• It can provide short term forecasts for pollutant dispersion, or wind trajectories, using National Weather Service forecast meteorological data

• It can help us predict air quality and explore existing pollution episodes in near-real-time, as well as increase our understanding of past pollution episodes

Why Do We Use it?• To forecast smoke impacts from proscribed

burns, wildfires or other releases• To assess what might be contributing to high

pollutant concentrations observed on our monitors

• To assess transport patterns• To assess day/night/seasonal differences• To assess monitoring networks • And, more

But Mainly

To Find Out Where is it Going

Proscribed burn

And Where it Came From

How Does it Work?

Some day I’ll tell you. But right now my name isn’t Dr. Glenn and I don’t have a clue. Lets focus on how it is used.

(Okay, maybe I have a clue but not detailed knowledge of the algorithms and such)

If You Want Details, They’re There

http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/hysplit4.html

Some Examples

Ely Shoshone August 2002 Backward Trajectories(Michael Dalton’s work – monthly trajectory patterns)

Where did that high concentration come from?

Gas Analyzer Rack

Data Logger

Calibrator

Continuous Particulate

Monitor Control Units

Zero Air Generator

NOy

NOx

SO2

Ozone

Toxics Flow Controller

Continuous Particulate Sensor Unit

Vertical manifold

Tubing for NOy

EPA Protocol Gas

316 Stainless Steel 1/8 inch tubing connects regulator to calibrator

CGA 660? Fitting must match bottle

First, Some ozone considerations

Source: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/greenhouse/

Ozone is a Love/Hate

thing

We typically work here and ozone is bad here

Ozone “precursors,” such as NOx and VOCs are emitted from sources (can be natural sources) and in the presence of sunlight ozone can be generated

Ozone can transport long distances

(insert hot rod beetle emitting leaves)

Very important chemical reactions related to ozone:

+

𝑁𝑂 2+𝑉𝑂𝐶+→𝑂 3

Nitrogen oxide (NO) reacts with ozone ( driving ozone concentrations down and producing nitrogen dioxide ()

Nitrogen dioxide () can react with VOCs in the presence of sunlight and produce ozone The VOCs can be natural, such as a pine forest, or anthropogenic such as a wood pulp facility or gas station.

Ozone Diurnal (daily) Patterns

Cherokee Nation Stilwell Site

90ppb 8-hour ozone

Quapaw Nation83ppb 8-hour ozone

Backward trajectories from two ozone sites on 4/12/2003

Coal fired power plant

Coal fired power plant

Highest Passive Ozone (24-hour sample)

NOx point sources in

tons per year

emissions

Quapaw Site on July 22, 2004 – Site’s highest 8-hr Ozone

93 ppb as an 8-hour average

NOx = NO + NO2

Notice NO is flat near zero. This indicates source is probably farther away (NOx is typically mostly NO out the stack).

Area 8-hr Ozone on July 22, 2004

Saint Louis

Memphis

Quapaw Site

Tulsa

KansasCity

Little Rock

OklahomaCity

July 22, 2004, 24-hour Backward Trajectories(NOAA Air Resource Laboratory HYSPLIT Model) proportional NOx point source emissions – 2002 EI

Quapaw Site

Oologah Power Plant 48-hr dispersion(NOAA Air Resource Laboratory HYSPLIT Model)

Quapaw Site

GRDA Power Plant 48-hr dispersion(NOAA Air Resource Laboratory HYSPLIT Model)

Quapaw Site

Muskogee Power Plant 48-hr dispersion(NOAA Air Resource Laboratory HYSPLIT Model)

Quapaw Site

Combined 48-hr dispersion(NOAA Air Resource Laboratory HYSPLIT Model)

Quapaw Site

Forward Trajectory from 3 Coal-Fired Power Plants on July 22, 2004(only includes endpoints that are less than 10 meters AGL)

Forward Trajectory from 3 Coal-Fired Power Plants on July 22, 2004(only includes endpoints that are less than 20 meters AGL)

NE Oklahoma Coal-Fired Power Plant NOx EmissionsSource: EPA AirData (1999 EI)

26.5% of Oklahoma facility NOx emissions are from Muskogee, Mayes and Rogers Counties (1999)

22.9% of Oklahoma facility NOx emissions are from three NE Oklahoma coal-fired power plants (1999)

WIND ROSE PLOT

Station #13968 - TULSA/INT'L ARPT, OK

NORTH

SOUTH

WEST EAST

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Wind Speed (m/s)

> 11.06

8.49 - 11.06

5.40 - 8.49

3.34 - 5.40

1.80 - 3.34

0.51 - 1.80

COMPANY NAMEMODELER

PLOT YEAR-DATE-TIME

1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1992 1991 Mar 1 - Oct 318 AM - 6 PM

DATE

DISPLAY UNIT

CALM WINDSAVG. WIND SPEED

COMMENTS

PROJECT/PLOT NO.ORIENTATION

Direction(blowing from)

WRPLOT View 3.5 by Lakes Environmental Software - www.lakes-environmental.com

Tulsa Ozone Season Wind Rose,Lines Indicate the Direction the Wind Came FROM, and Colors Indicate Wind Speed(1984-1992, March 1 to October 31, from 8 AM to 6 PM)

S

N

EW

2003 Ozone Monitoring Locations (Red Dots)

Most Relevant Winds for Ozone

What if you live here?

Date/Time is UTC (same as Greenwich Mean Time) and NOT local time

Choose forward or backward

The met database and location (lat long) are chosen in previous screensIn general, a smaller resolution dataset is better (12km is better than 40 km)

Set total run time to 24 hours, or more in some instancesIn a 8-hour ozone BT example you might want to set the UTC time to the end of the 8-hour concentration (remember to convert time), then have it start a new trajectory every hour and stop after 8 trajectories. It will then make a trajectory for each hour in the 8-hour ozone average.

You can start the height of a backward trajectory from the monitor height, say 4-meters agl. For a forward trajectory from a point source you would set the height slightly above the sources stack, if it has one.

Most of these settings can stay at their default settings

Decide if you want a GIS shapefile, and/or a Google Earth file. The trajectory endpoints file will still be there.

If you are using the endpoints file, you can have it dump meteorological data such as mixing height, temp, solar radiation, etc., along the trajectory path for additional analysis.Save the endpoints file as a text file from your browser

Beside each option there is a “Help” button. Please use it.

Backward trajectories

Elevations of trajectories

Save text file for GIS integration

Open Text File in Excel and Modify

Then create feature class in GIS software

GIS for Air Quality(a TAMS/ITEP Course)

Anyone can learn to use HYSPLIT – Just start

And, feel free to contact me if you want assistance