HYSPLIT Forum: hysplitbbs.arl.noaa.gov

Hello,

I am trying to calculate the volume of air that was collected from a sampling device. I know the size of the sampler (1444 square cm), the time period, and location, so I am wondering if there is a way to calculate the volume of air that passed through the sampling device during that time period (i.e. what volume of air was sampled).

Thanks

It seems that your air sampler is a passive one which does not have intake control at the inlet. In this case, you will only need to know the wind speed (the component perpendicular to the sampler surface) at the sampler location to calculate the air flux (F=Vp x Area). Then integrating the flux over the period will give you the total air volume sampled. The wind speed can be obtained from measurement data, available meteorological model data, or your own model runs. If you want to know the regions where the sampled air came from, you could run HYSPLIT backward in either trajectory or dispersion mode.