Atmospheric Dispersion Research Strengthens Nation’s Ability to Protect Public from Hazardous Material Releases
Should a weapon of mass destruction be used against the United States, emergency planners would need to predict how the chemical, biological, or radiological materials would spread through the air in order to direct evacuations and response efforts. But these predictions can be difficult to obtain in urban areas because meteorological data are collected at weather stations where the topology is significantly different from that of a downtown area.
An UrbaNet station is located on top of a physics building at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The station measures mean wind characteristics, atmospheric turbulence behavior, temperature, and relative humidity. The data help scientists to forecast how toxic releases will disperse in urban areas.
The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division—with staff managed by ORISE for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—is working toward a solution through a collaborative project called UrbaNet. This research initiative is being tested initially in Washington, D.C., not only because the city is a potential target for terrorism but also because its skyline makes it more feasible to measure specific atmospheric conditions.
UrbaNet takes advantage of the fact that dispersion can be forecast in similar ways to the weather. Researchers are using a combination of meteorological instruments from both private and government sources to gain a better understanding of how atmospheric conditions such as wind patterns and turbulance affect the spread of hazardous materials over metropolitan populations.
ORISE is supporting the program by establishing new networks of high spatial resolution measurement stations that provide high quality turbulent atmospheric flow data. In addition to installing and maintaining the stations, ORISE is also providing its expertise in developing algorithms and tools for data processing and analysis, as well as presenting results to both the research and operational communities.
To evaluate the use of data generated by the commercial sector, NOAA has partnered with AWS Convergence Technologies—operator of 8,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations primarily based at neighborhood schools and public safety facilities across the United States. ORISE has installed several UrbaNet stations alongside the WeatherBug instruments, which will allow the research team to evaluate the viability of using private meteorological networks to supplement UrbaNet’s atmospheric measurements.
“The data collected by the NOAA UrbaNet sites and the evaluation of additional data from WeatherBug stations are expected to significantly improve our ability to protect populations from hazardous materials released into the air in urban areas,” said ORISE Atmospheric Scientist Chris Vogel.
Additional metropolitan areas are expected to also become part of the study and will be chosen based on homeland security threat, scientific need, and data availability.