Industrial accident simulation

Post user applications of the HYSPLIT trajectory or dispersion model.
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jacasalr
Posts: 1
Joined: October 17th, 2016, 11:19 am
Registered HYSPLIT User: No

Industrial accident simulation

Post by jacasalr »

Hello everyone,

I am a new HYSTPLIT user but I have found fascinating all its potential. I have donwloaded the PC unregistered version and I would like to simulate a hypothetical accident in an industrial facility (hypothetical, as well). I have read and followed the tutorial at the webpage but still I want to be sure I am doing the right way.

My question this time is regarding to input data I would need to know in order to perform a proper simulation. According to the information I extracted from the tutorial, I would need to know the following information:

- Meteorological data on the month when accident takes place. If the data is needed for a facility located at Europe, Latin America or Asia, can it be obtained from HYSPLIT menu Meteorology/ARL Data FTP/Reanalysis?
- Kind of substance (s) involved into the accident.
- Total amount of substance (s) released from the accident (or mass flux in [unit of mass/hour]).
- Emission duration in [hours].
- Location of the "facility" (Latitude and Longitude). Can I use a location in Euripe, Latin America or Asia?
- Starting altitude in [meters].

Do I need something else? Am I missing something?

My aim is to get a graph where I could see the concentration profile and trajectories of a plume originated from a hypothetical industrial accident, so I might estimate the affected area.

Thank you for your help!
egribbin
Posts: 33
Joined: November 19th, 2012, 6:45 pm
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Industrial accident simulation

Post by egribbin »

HYSPLIT requires meteorological input data to be in a specific format: ARL packed. NOAA has archived ARL packed meteorological files for use in HYSPLIT on the following page: http://www.ready.noaa.gov/archives.php . Most of the model files archived on this page are for for North America and do not include other areas of the globe. However there are some models which are global in scope (and available for download on this page):

GDAS 1 degree
GDAS 0.5 degree
GFS 0.25 degree

If you are in Europe, you can try to access meteorological files generated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMRWF) (http://www.ecmwf.int/). They generate meteorological files which can be converted to the ARL format using one of the utility programs provided in the HYSPLIT installation.

Erik
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