Metropolitan-scale Transport and Dispersion from the New York World Trade Center Following September 11, 2001. Part II: An Application of the CALPUFF Plume Model

Following the collapse of the New York World Trade Center (WTC) towers on September 11, 2001, Local, State, and Federal agencies initiated numerous air monitoring activities to better understand the ongoing impacts of emissions from the disaster. The collapse of the World Trade Center towers and associated fires that lasted for several weeks resulted at times in a noticeable plume of material that was dispersed around the Metropolitan New York City (NYC) area. In general, the plume was only noticeable for a short period of time following September 11, and only apparent close to the World Trade Center site. A study of the estimated pathway which the plume of WTC material would likely follow was completed to support the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s 2002 initial exposure assessments. In this study, the WTC emissions were simulated using the CALMET-CALPUFF model in order to examine the general spatial and temporal dispersion patterns over NYC. This paper presents the results of the CALPUFF plume model in terms of plume dilution and location, since the exact source strength remains unknown. Independent observations of PM_2.5 are used to support the general dispersion features calculated by the model. Results indicate that the simulated plume matched well with an abnormal increase (600–1000% of normal) in PM_2.5 two nights after the WTC collapse as the plume rotated north to southeast, towards parts of NYC. Very little if any evidence of the plume signature was noted during a similar flow scenario a week after September 11. This leads to the conclusion that other than areas within a few kilometers from the WTC site, the PM_2.5 plume was not observable over NYC’s background concentration after the first few days.     

A quantitative analysis of KALPANA-1 derived water vapor winds and its impact on NWP model

The coverage of satellite derived winds over the Indian region including Indian Ocean has improved by the operation of India’s first dedicated satellite for meteorology, KALPANA-1 since 12 September 2002. Atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) are being derived at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi on a routine operational basis. The AMV is recognized as an important source of information for numerical weather prediction (NWP) and is particularly suited for tracking the low and middle level clouds mainly because of the good contrast in albedo between target and background, whereas the upper level moisture pattern can be better tracked by water vapor winds (WVW) using water vapor (WV) channel (5.7–7.1 μm). The WVWs proved to be a very useful wind product for predicting the future track position of cyclones, well marked low pressure areas or heavy rainfall warnings in advance and so, often these types of weather systems are steered by the upper level winds. In the present study, the quantitative as well as qualitative analyses of KALPANA-1 WVW have been carried out. The primary change introduced is making use of first guess (FG) forecast fields obtained from National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and Global Forecast System (GFS), at a resolution of 1° × 1° with T-382/L64 instead of forecasts of operational limited area model (LAM) of IMD. The overall results showed a consistent improvement after using improved FG wind fields from NCEP instead of LAM with a significantly increasing number of good qualities of KALPANA-1 derived WVWs. The quantitative error analysis has also been carried out for the validation of WVWs using collocated radiosonde observations for the period from May 2008 to December 2009 and the available mid-upper level winds derived from METEOSAT-7 data for the period from October to December 2008. The analysis shows that after modification, the RMSE and bias of KALPANA-1 WVWs have reduced considerably. Further, to assess the impact of these winds, a high resolution mesoscale model WRF 3DVAR system is used in the present study for the analysis of tropical cyclone ‘Sidr’. The results show that the wind assimilation experiments (analysis at 200 hPa) using upper level KALPANA-1 WVW have great potential for improving the NWP analysis. The impact of additional wind data in the model is found to be positive and beneficial.     

VEBEX: Vegetation and surface energy balance experiment for the tropics

Surface features such as soil moisture and vegetation have a profound impact on the surface energy balance and the atmospheric boundary layer. To quantify this effect for a tropical location, a detailed field experiment, VEBEX, was designed and successfully executed in a tropical site at Bangalore, India. VEBEX was a joint experiment between the North Carolina State University, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and the University of Agricultural Science (UAS) at Bangalore, India. Continuous surface meteorological measurements were taken over an entire crop period (pre-sowing to post-harvest). During different stages of the plant growth, intensive observations of surface turbulence, and measurements of physiological and soil moisture measurements were also conducted. The results obtained provide an insight into the unusually strong variability for the tropics. Interpretation of the observations and an overview of the analysis procedure and future research initiatives are also presented.     

Characterizing the influence of tide on the physico-chemical parameters and nutrient variability in the coastal surface water of the northern Bay of Bengal during the winter season

The spatial distribution of physico-chemical parameters(sea surface temperature(SST), p H, sea surface salinity(SSS), dissolved oxygen(DO) and Secchi depth) along with filterable nutrients(dissolved inorganic nitrate(DIN),dissolved inorganic phosphate(DIP) and reactive silicate(DSi)) are measured in the winter months of November,December, January and February for four consecutive years from 2009–2010 to 2012–2013 on the shallow continental shelf(20 m bathymetry) of the coastal waters(up to 18 km away from shoreline) of the northern Bay of Bengal(n Bo B) during the highest high tide(HHT) and lowest low tide(LLT) hours for the first time. The variability of the coastal biogeochemical environment is assessed during the HHT and LLT hours and for this purpose, seawater samples are collected from seven different locations of a transect in the coastal region. Physicochemical parameters(except SST) show significant difference in magnitude during the HHT and LLT hours respectively. p H, SSS and DO are found to increase in the HHT hours and vice-versa. The data reveal that during the LLT hours, a relative increase of freshwater input in the n Bo B can have elevated the nutrient concentration compared with that observed during the HHT hours. The ratio of nutrient concentration is found to deviate significantly from the Redfield ratio. The abundance of DIP is much higher compared with that of DIN and DSi.The anthropogenic sources of DIP from the upstream flow(especially the domestic effluent of several metropolises) can be mainly attributed behind such an observation. In order to characterize and establish the trend of such variation in such an important bio-climatic region, long-term and systematic ecosystem monitoring in the coastal water of the n Bo B northern Bay of Bengal should be carried out throughout the year.     

First H<Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis> and Revised Photometric Studies of Contact Binary KP101231

This paper reports the first spectroscopic observations in the Hα region at different orbital phases and the revised photometric solutions, for the contact binary KP101231 (V1) in the direction of the open cluster Praesepe. The photometric solutions obtained for the data in V and R passbands using the Wilson–Devinney (WD) method suggest that both components were in good thermal contact. The equivalent widths (EW) of Hα and Na lines were studied at various phases and a filled-in absorption profile around phase 0.58–0.68 was observed and compared with other phases. A correlation was observed between the profiles of Hα and Na lines at various phases.     

Laboratory simulation to understand translational soil slides and establish movement criteria using wireless IMU sensors

Landslide monitoring and warning using inertial measurement units (IMUs) has shown the potential for remote and real-time applications. However, the studies conducted using the IMU sensors are limited to rainfall-induced landslide detection using soil moisture sensors and accelerometers for predicting slide and measuring tilt, respectively. The tilting of the slope might not occur during a slow-moving translational slide, and it may not always be possible to accurately record the soil moisture condition. The use of raw acceleration data, which is the combination of linear and gravitational accelerations, for calculating tilt or motion is another drawback of the existing studies. Hence, there is a need for a better approach to monitor slides. This paper presents two methods to define movement thresholds and criteria to identify the translational soil slides based on our understanding of the sensor data recorded during the two laboratory experiments. BNO055 sensor devices (IMU sensors) with 3-axis accelerometers and 3-axis gyroscopes were selected for this study. The linear accelerations, gravitational accelerations, and angular velocities were utilized to understand the translational soil slides by correlating the sensor behavior to that of the slope. The interpretation of the movements during the failure at each sensor location was further verified by referring to the videos recorded by two pi-cameras. The outcomes of this study confirm the applicability of the proposed IMU sensor system and the movement thresholds for effective and reliable monitoring and warning of translational soil slides.     

Modification of the loop current warm core eddy by Hurricane Gilbert (1988)

Numerical investigation of Hurricane Gilbert (1988) effect on the Loop Current warm core eddy (WCE) in the Gulf of Mexico is performed using the Modular Ocean Model version 2 (MOM2). Results show that the storm-induced maximum sea surface temperature (SST) decrease in Gilbert’s wake is over 2.5°C, as compared with the 3.5°C cooling in the absence of the WCE. The near-inertial oscillation in the wake reduces significantly in an along-track direction with the presence of the WCE. This effect is also reflected between the mixed layer and the thermocline, where the current directions are reversed with the upper layer. After two inertial periods (IP), the current reversal is much less obvious. In addition, it is demonstrated that Hurricane Gilbert wind stress increases the current speed of the WCE by approximate 133%. With the forcing of Gilbert, the simulated translation direction and speed of the WCE towards the Mexican coast are closer to the observed (42% more accurate in distance and 78% more accurate in direction) compared with the simulation without the Gilbert forcing. The simulated ocean response to Gilbert generally agrees with the recent observations in Hurricane Fabian.     

A Note on the Estimation of Eddy Diffusivity and Dissipation Length in Low Winds over a Tropical Urban Terrain

— Urban terrain poses a challenge for modeling air pollutant diffusion. In tropics, because of the dominant low wind speed environment, the importance of understanding the turbulence diffusion is even more critical, and uncertain. The objective of this study is to estimate the vertical eddy diffusivity of an urban, tropical atmosphere in low–wind speeds. Turbulence measurements at 1 Hz were made at 4-m level over an urban terrain with a roughness length of 0.78 m during winter months. Eddy diffusivity is estimated from spectral quantities of the turbulence data involving turbulent kinetic energy (E) and its dissipation rate (?). The spectral information of the vertical velocity fluctuations is used to estimate the vertical length scale which provides information on the eddy diffusivity. In addition, the product of friction velocity and the vertical length scale has been used to non-dimensionalize the eddy diffusivity, which is shown to increase with increasing instability. Using the eddy diffusivity (K) estimates from the E – ? approach, a relation is suggested for the mixing length based eddy diffusivity models of the form: K = c _w .[2.5 ? 0.5(z/L)], where z is the measurement height, L is the Obukhov length, and c _w has an average value close to 1 for unstable and near 0.5 for stable conditions for the urban terrains.     

Development and propagation of a pollution gradient in the marine boundary layer during INDOEX (1999)

The development and propagation of a pollution gradient in the marine boundary layer over the Arabian Sea during the Intensive Field Phase of the Indian Ocean Experiment (1999) is investigated. A hypothesis for the generation of the pollution gradient is presented. Infrared satellite images show the formation of the pollution gradient as the leading edge of a polluted air mass in the marine boundary layer and also its propagation over the Arabian Sea and the northern Indian Ocean. Aerosol data measured from two research vessels over the Arabian Sea show a variation in the concentrations caused by the passage of this pollution gradient. Depth of the pollution gradient was found to be about 800 m. A numerical model was used to simulate the development of this gradient and its propagation over the ocean. Results show that its formation and structure are significantly influenced by the diurnal cycle of coastal sea-land breeze circulations along India’s west coast. Transport of aerosols and gases over the Arabian Sea in the lower troposphere from land sources appears to be through this mechanism with the other being the elevated land plume.