WRPLOT View & “Some” Wind Rose Uses

Glenn Gehring, Technology Specialist IIITribal Air Monitoring Support Center

glenn.gehring@nau.edu541-612-0899

http://www.weblakes.com/download/freeware.html

Work your data so it only has the wind data from your desired concentrations in the correct format. Make a Lakes Format text file. Then import to WRPLOT View

No Headers except LAKES FORMAT in cell A1.Save as tab delimited text file

Wind data from approximately the highest 10% recorded NOx concentrations at the CTUIR monitoring project in Hermiston were imported into WRPLOT View generating this pollution rose.

Of these highest 10%, concentrations ranged from 25 to 130 ppb with 14 hours at 100 ppb or higher and 146 hours at 50 ppb or higher. The mean was 40.3 ppb for these concentrations.

Notice the southerly winds. What “stuff” is in that direction that emits NOx?

Note: winds don’t typically go in straight lines for long distances – they curve around pressure systems and surface features. Wind roses aren’t typically useful to identify transport sources, but are very useful to identify problem sources near the monitor.

NOx Pollution Rose

Monitor

Railroad facility

Wal-MartDistributionCenter

This stuff

There are vast open areas south of Hermiston, but there are also agricultural sources south of the airport.

Note: Ammonia is used as a fertilizer and can impact NOx analyzers under certain circumstances. I looked at these data to see if the high concentrations centered around dates farmers typically fertilize. They didn’t. There are many methods used to help identify problem sources. Wind roses are only part of the whole process.

Wind roses can help identify potential modeling issues

NCAR Meteorological Observations Database

120 160 200 240 280 320 360 400 440 480

LC P Easting (km )

-680

-640

-600

-560

-520

-480

-440

-400

-360

-320LC

P N

orth

ing

(km

)

Tulsa

Oklahom a City

LawtonSlide source:

Update on 8-Hour Ozone Early Action Compact Modeling for Oklahoma presentation, presented at: Oklahoma Ozone Modeling/SIP Protocol Meeting, October 2, 2003, by ENVIRON International Corporation(red circle is mine)

Daily Max 8-Hour Ozone August 16, 1999

150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

-650

-600

-550

-500

-450

-400

-350

-300

7 78 8

7 6

8 1

7 78 0

7 6

8 1

7 9 7 77 5

0

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

m ax = 98 PP Bm in = 52 P PB

Slide source:

Update on 8-Hour Ozone Early ActionCompact Modeling for Oklahoma presentation, presented at: Oklahoma Ozone Modeling/SIP Protocol Meeting, October 2, 2003, by ENVIRON International Corporation(red circle is mine)

Daily Max 8-Hour Ozone August 17, 1999

150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

-650

-600

-550

-500

-450

-400

-350

-300

9 39 4

8 0

8 4

8 18 6

8 2

8 3

8 8 9 39 9

0

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

m ax = 95 P PBm in = 56 P PB

Slide source:

Update on 8-Hour Ozone Early Action Compact Modeling for Oklahoma presentation, presented at: Oklahoma Ozone Modeling/SIP Protocol Meeting, October 2, 2003, by ENVIRON International Corporation(red circle is mine)

Daily Max 8-Hour Ozone August 19, 1999

150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

-650

-600

-550

-500

-450

-400

-350

-300

5 25 3

5 7

4 9

5 4

5 45 4

6 3

6 1

6 5 7 87 2

0

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

m ax = 85 PP Bm in = 44 P PB

Slide source:

Update on 8-Hour Ozone Early Action Compact Modeling for Oklahoma presentation, presented at: Oklahoma Ozone Modeling/SIP Protocol Meeting, October 2, 2003, by ENVIRON International Corporation(red circle is mine)

NOx & VOC Sources, Ozone PrecursorsEmission Source Symbols are Proportional, Larger Dots Emit More

Prevailing Winds (Annual Average)

These two met sites are near the Arkansas River. Is this river effect?

Ft. Smith & Stilwell, Winds and Sources

Is this river effect? If so, and it is used in the model does it skew the model output?

Ozone season wind roseWIND 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

Most Relevant Winds for Ozone

Enter 5-years of wind data then specify days (ozone season months) and time if you want to see daytime winds during the ozone season

The hardest part is getting data into the proper format to input it into WRPLOT View. Good spreadsheet and database skills help as there are many shortcut methods that make it easier, but it is still a task. Even so, sometimes it is well worth the effort if you are interested in better understanding your air quality issues. And, in my honest opinion, understanding your air shed is a critical step in improving air quality.

Please feel free to contact me if you want assistance.