United States
                    Environmental Protection
                    Agency
Environmental Sciences Research
Laboratory
Research Triangle Park NC 27711
                    Research and Development
EPA-600/S3-84-010  Feb. 1984
4>EPA          Project Summary
                    Data  Base  for  Plumes with
                    Significant Plume and
                    Background  Particle  Scattering
                    Christian Seigneur, Clark D. Johnson, Jerry A. Anderson, J. Alexander
                    McDonald, and L. Willard Richards
                      Visibility Impairment due to Sulfur
                    Transport and Transformation in  the
                    Atmosphere is a project sponsored by
                    the U.S. Environmental  Protection
                    Agency. During the winter and summer
                    of 1981, plume measurement programs
                    were conducted in the vicinity of the
                    Kincaid power plant near Springfield,
                    IL; the  Labadie power plant near St.
                    Louis, MO; the La Cygne power plant
                    near  Kansas City,  MO; the Magma
                    copper  smelter near San Manuel,  AZ;
                    and the Phelps-Dodge copper smelter
                    near Douglas, AZ.
                      Airborne measurements  of aerosol
                    size distribution, chemistry, optical
                    properties, and trace gas concentrations
                    in the plume and in background air were
                    recorded at the above locations. Exten-
                    sive plume  teleradiometer  measure-
                    ments,  airborne measurements along
                    teleradiometer sight  paths (including
                    plume width, pollutant concentrations,
                    and particle light scattering [bsp]), and
                    measurements of sun-observer-plume
                    geometry were also made.
                      This report describes the types of
                    information  included  in a  data base
                    collected during the 1981 VISTTA field
                    programs. Specific data were tabulated
                    for sight paths through each of  the
                    following  plumes: the Kincaid power
                    plant plume on February 20, 24, and
                    25, 1981; the Labadie power plant
                    plume on August 24 and 29,1981; and
                    the Magma smelter plume on Septem-
                    ber 8, 1981. This data base, presented
                    in the project report,  can be used to
                    evaluate plume visibility models.
  This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Environmental Sciences
Research Laboratory, Research Triangle
Park, NC, to announce key findings of
the research project that is fully docu-
mented in a separate report of the same
title (see Project Report ordering infor-
mation at back).

Introduction
  In 1977, the U.S.  Congress amended
the Clean Air Act to set as a national goal
the "prevention of any future, and the
remedying of any existing, impairment of
visibility in mandatory class I  Federal
areas which impairment results from man
made air pollution": (Section 169A). It is
necessary to understand the effects on
visibility of current and proposed emis-
sions in order to accomplish this goal. The
USEPA  initiated the VISTTA (Visibility
Impairment due to Sulfur Transport and
Transformation in the Atmosphere) pro-
ject to develop the technical information
required to understand the contribution
of  coal-fired power plants to visibility
impairment in western pristine  areas.
The VISTTA project  is a multi-year co-
operative effort involving several govern-
ment agencies, private companies,  and
universities. Overall  coordination of the
program is the responsibility of Meteor-
ology Research, Inc.
 The general goals of the VISTTA project
are as follows
  1   determmethe relationship between
     emissions of coal-fired power plants
     and  smelters and their downwind
     optical effects;

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  2.  document the current natural and
     anthropogenic contributors to visi-
     bility impairment and the relative
     contributions  of these  various
     sources; and

  3.  provide data for evaluation of plume
     visibility models

The data base from 1979  VISTTA field
programs was presented by Blumenthal
et al (1983).1 This report  presents the
data base that was collected during the
February and August-September  1981
VISTTA field programs These programs
were conducted in the  vicinity of the
Kincaid power plant near Springfield, IL;
the Labadie power plant near St. Louis,
MO; the La Cygne power plant  near
Kansas  City,  MO; the  Magma  copper
smelter  near San Manuel, AZ; and the
Phelps-Dodge  copper  smelter  near
Douglas, AZ. VISTTA data  are available
from Sonoma  Technology, Inc., Santa
Rosa, CA 95401.

Results
  The data base in the report consists of
nine case studies. Three  case studies
were conducted February 20, 24, and 25,
1981, on the plume of the Kincaid power
plant near Springfield, IL; two case studies
were conducted on August 24 and 29,
1981 on the plume of the Labadie power
plant near St. Louis, MO; and four case
studies were conducted on September 8,
1 981 on the plume of the Magma copper
smelter  near San Manuel,  AZ. Only air-
borne measurements were made at the
La Cygne power plant.
  The five case studies (February 20, 24,
and 25 and August 24 and 29, 1 981) that
included emission data can be used for
overall  evaluation of plume visibility
models.  The six case studies (February
24, August 24 and the four cases of
September 8, 1981) that included data
measured  by the instrumental aircraft
along the teleradiometer sight path can
be used for evaluation of optics, disper-
sion, and chemistry modules
  The data base consists of information
from the following categories'
  1   major  characteristics (location,
     number of stacks, and stack height)
     of the power plants and smelters,

  2  location of theteleradiometers, and

  3  emission characteristics, rate and
     flue gas characteristics of the power
     plants.

  4  Physical  characteristics (mass
     median radius and standard devia-
     tion of the lognormal distributions,
     density, and index of refraction) of
     the plume and background aerosol.

  5.  Ambient  temperature profiles for
     the five power plant case studies.

  6  Meteorological data (effective wind
     direction, wind speed, temperature,
     and relative  humidity) at plume
     height

  7.  Optics data (site and time of the
     teleradiometer measurements, geo-
     metric data, and background visual
     range).

  8.  Teleradiometer data (plume/sky
     radiance ratioand plume radiance).

  9.  Plume measurements  obtained
     with the aircraft.

  Aircraft measurements include  the
following: location of  measurements,
plume width and altitude, maximum trace
gas concentrations, broad-based and UV
radiation data,  plume burdens (plume
trace  gas concentration  and particle-
scattering coefficients integrated along
the crosswind  direction) and trace  gas
background concentrations. Because of
uncertainties in  the  aircraft  measure-
ments, data were collected during several
flight paths that correspond to a given set
of teleradiometer measurements.
  The report contains comments on each
case study to give additional information
on the accuracy of the measurements.

Conclusions and
Recommendations
  The 1 979 VISTTA data base has focused
on plumes with low particle concentra-
tions in  clean background air. The 1981
VISTTA field programs were conducted to
extend the data base to conditions where
particle scattering in the plume and back-
ground is important. This report presents
the 1981 VISTTAdatabasethat should be
used to  evaluate plume visibility models
for cases where  plumes  contain  high
concentrations of particles or are emitted
into a  polluted atmosphere with  high
particle  concentrations of  interest for
plume visibility model evaluation

References
  1.  Blumenthal, D.L., Richards, L.W.,
     Macias,  E.S.,  Bergstrom,  R W.,
     Bhardwaja, P.S., Eigsti,  S.L., Wil-
     son, W.E., Seigneur, C , Hudischew-
     skyj, A B ,  and Babson, B.L.  The
     Chemistry, Physics,  and  Optical
     Properties  of  Plumes and  Back-
ground Air in the Southwest Unitet
States  NTIS PB  83-261  768
Springfield, VA, 1983, 67 pp.

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      Christian Seigneur and Clark D. Johnson are with Systems Applications,  Inc.,
        San Rafael,  CA 94903; Jerry A. Anderson, J. Alexander McDonald,  and L.
        Willard Richards are with Sonoma Technology, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA 95401
      William E. Wilson, Jr., and William D. Conner are the EPA Project Officers (see
        below).
      The complete report, entitled "Data Base for Plumes with Significant Plume and
        Background  Particle Scattering," (Order No. PB 84-141 159; Cost:  $8.50,
        subject to change) will be available only from:
             National Technical Information Service
             5285 Port Royal Road
             Springfield. VA 22161
              Telephone: 703-487-4650
      The EPA Project Officers can be contacted at:
             Environmental Sciences Research Laboratory
             U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
             Research Triangle Park. NC 27711
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