daily concentration contours over 12 months

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davidglenn
Posts: 17
Joined: June 15th, 2021, 9:12 am
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

daily concentration contours over 12 months

Post by davidglenn »

I was a student in the 2021 workshop and it was incredible. Many thanks. I don't think my particular application was addressed-and it may not be possible. I am interested in aerosol dispersion from a plant near my home in WV. I know its annual output (150 tons/year of PM10). The plant operates 24/7 and emits from a 75m tall stack. I would like to be able to examine its 24 hour dispersion from time=0 to 48 hours after the 24hr daily emission began. This should allow me to calculate the deposition downwind. I want to do this for every day in the year. I then want to make the frequency contours for the year. The purpose is to determine which areas are most vulnerable to deposition of PM10 and other aerosols.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
alicec
Posts: 411
Joined: February 8th, 2016, 12:56 pm
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

Re: daily concentration contours over 12 months

Post by alicec »

I'm glad you found the workshop useful.
The workshop mostly focused on using the GUI, but it did touch on scripting.
For your application, you probably want to use scripting. The tutorial comes
with scripts for windows and linux for every exercise. You can also use another programming language.
The basic steps for scripting HYSPLIT runs are:
  • Write the CONTROL file
  • write the SETUP.CFG file
  • Maker sure the ASCDATA.CFG file is in the working directory.
  • call hysplit executable.
  • call any post-processing.
In order to accommodate multiple HYSPLIT runs in the same working directory you can use a suffix.
Write your CONTROl file and SETUP file with a suffix after a . such as
CONTROL.run1
SETUP.run1

Then when you call the hysplit executable, use the suffix as the first argument.

Code: Select all

../exec/hycs_std run1

There are many ways you could arrange the runs.
I would recommend to start by scripting runs for a shorter time period - just a few days.
Then extend it to the whole year - usually by doing many shorter runs. Although people do sometimes
do quite long simulations.

Take it one step at a time. You will need to make many choices such as whether to use the plume
rise algorithm, how many particles to release per hour, what kind of spatial and temporal resolution you
want on the concentration/deposition grid and so forth. You can make some arbitrary choices at the beginning
and then refine them. With the shorter runs you can explore how sensitive your outputs are to different choices.

You will probably also need to customize a post-processing program/script to display the output the way you want.
Do you want frequency of exceedance of some threshold?

Also look at the literature to see what choices other people have made for similar studies.
davidglenn
Posts: 17
Joined: June 15th, 2021, 9:12 am
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

Re: daily concentration contours over 12 months

Post by davidglenn »

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I have spent this time getting comfortable with the GUI. Now I'm ready to using the scripting procedures. I've created a 'CONTROL.run1' as you suggest. When I execute 'hycs_std run1' the program steps through each step waiting for my input instead of reading the data in the 'CONTROL.run1' file. I cannot find the correct executable batch file that reads the CONTROL.run1 file. Can you direct me to the correct file? Many thanks,
alicec
Posts: 411
Joined: February 8th, 2016, 12:56 pm
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

Re: daily concentration contours over 12 months

Post by alicec »

Are you running the executable in the same directory that the CONTROL.run1 file is in?
davidglenn
Posts: 17
Joined: June 15th, 2021, 9:12 am
Registered HYSPLIT User: Yes

Re: daily concentration contours over 12 months

Post by davidglenn »

Yes, thank you for the reply. I did finally find all my mistakes and everything runs as expected.
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