United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Atmospheric Sciences ~ ,
Research Laboratory '/
Research Triangle Park NC 27711
EPA/600/S3-87/010 May 1987
Project Summary
Joint EPA-EPRI Cold Weather
Plume Study (CWPS): Overview of
Measurements and Data Base
Noor V. Gillani and Vicki L Rohm
.The Cold Weather Plume Study
(CWPS) was a field measurement pro-
gram carried out in February 1981
under the joint sponsorship of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and
the Electric Power Research Institute.
Its objective was to generate a data
base suitable for quantitative analysis
of the mesoscale physical dynamics and
SOX, NOX chemistry of the plume of the
1320 MW coal-fired Kincaid power
plant near Springfield, Illinois. The data
base was intended to complement
similar measurements made by other
EPA and EPRI studies in the same region
during other seasons. Measurements
included in-situ chemical measurements
from two instrumented aircraft, remote-
sensing lidar measurements and mete-
orological measurements from a surface
station, two towers, and from vertical
soundings. This report provides a brief
overview of the measurement plat-
forms, the measured parameters, and
the daily experiments, and describes
and documents the data base available
on magnetic tapes and in hard copy
form.
This Protect Summary was developed
by EPA's Atmospheric Sciences Re-
search 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 In-
formation at back).
Introduction
A Cold Weather Plume Study (CWPS)
was carried out from a St. Louis base in
February, 1981 under the joint sponsor-
ship of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Electric Power
Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI). The main
objective of the field measurement pro-
gram was to generate a data base ap-
propriate for quantitative characterization
of the mesoscale transport and chemical
transformations of SOX and NOX in the
plume of the 1320 MW, coal-fired Kincaid
power plant near Springfield, Illinois,
under winter conditions. The measure-
ments included in-situ airborne chemical
sampling in the plume and its background,
as well as a variety of meteorological
measurements characterizing the PBL
structure and dynamics of the wind,
temperature and humidity fields. Previous
extensive power plant plume measure-
ments had been carried out in power
plant plumes in the same region in sum-
mer and spring periods. Analyses of the
data of these previous studies had already
yielded valuable quantitative empirical
descriptions of the plume atmospheric
transmission processes, particularly for
SOX. A more specific objective of the
winter study was to test the validity of
such quantitative parameterizations
under winter conditions and, if necessary,
to revise the formulations to make them
seasonally more general. Another im-
portant aspect of the winter study was a
more balanced emphasis on SOX as well
as NOX atmospheric chemistry. This
report overviews the measurement pro-
gram, identifies other reports which con-
tain more detailed program description
and data, and most importantly, describes
and documents the formal overall cen-
tralized data base of CWPS.
Participants
There were two teams of participating
groups in the field program, one supported
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by EPA and the other by EPRI. Each
participating group had a specific role in
the study, yet all measurements of a
given daily mission were performed within
the context of a coordinated overall mis-
sion plan. The two teams shared the
same overall program objectives, but
emphasized different specific objectives.
The EPA team's focus was more on SOX
chemistry, while the EPRI team placed
greater emphasis on NOX chemistry.
Overall, the measurement strategy was
focused on detailed aircraft chemical
sampling in the plume over a mesoscale
range; two primary sampling aircraft were
typically deployed in each experiment.
Supporting measurements included stack
sampling, monitoring of ambient mete-
orological parameters, and remote
sensing of PBL aerosol structure and
dynamics.
The participating groups and their
principal roles are outlined below:
were made at Kincaid. Meteorological
support measurements included mea-
surements near the power plant by
ROCKWELL, and at downwind locations
near prevailing plume trajectories by AV.
Measurements near the power plant were
made at a surface station (pressure,
temperature, net/solar/sky radiation,
cloud cover and precipitation), from 10 to
100 m meteorological towers (mean
temperature, dewpoint, wind speed/
direction, and u,v,w components of the
wind field), and from tracked T-sondes (T,
wind speed/direction). Downwind mete-
orological measurements by AV included
frequent pibal (wind speed/direction) and
airsonde (temperature and relative
humidity) sounding during the experiment
periods. Synoptic weather data were
gathered and interpreted by SRI at the
local NWS forecasting office. SRI provided
weather forecasts and summaries tailored
to the needs of the daily missions.
EPA Team
EPA-Research Triangle Park
EPA-Las Vegas
Environmental Measurements. Inc.
AeroVironment
SRI International
Washington University
EPRI Team
Battelle. Columbus
Meteorology Research, Inc.
Rockwell International
Technical direction.
Airborne lidar measurements.
Program planning; in-situ aircraft measurements.
Field program management; meteorological support.
Meteorological support.
On-site data processing and review; program data
management; data interpretation.
Program planning; on-site organic sample analysis;
MRI aircraft instrumentation for NO, and HNO^ data
management for EPRI team; data interpretation.
In-situ aircraft measurements.
Stack sampling; meteorological support.
Measurements
The in-situ aircraft measurements in-
cluded continuous monitoring of gas
concentrations (SO2, NO, NOX, NTotal, O3)
aerosol parameters (ANC, Charge, BKat),
meteorological variables (temperature,
humidity, pressure, turbulence, solar
radiation) and navigational parameters
(altitude, VOR, DME). Integrated filter
samples were collected and analyzed for
aerosol sulfate, nitrate, chloride and
ammonium; for gaseous ammonia and
nitric acid; and for elemental composition.
Automatic bag samples were also col-
lected nearly instantaneously at regular
intervals and analyzed on-line for aerosol
size distribution. In addition, integrated
samples were collected in Teflon bags
and analyzed daily at a ground laboratory
for detailed speciation of organic vapors,
including PAN.
Stack measurements of S02, NO, 02
and exit gas velocity and temperature
PBL and plume structure and dynamics
were "visualized" Jay remote sensing of
atmospheric aerosol distribution based
on lidar returns of aerosol backscattering
monitored in the lidar aircraft (EPA-LV)
flying well above the PBL.
The Kincaid power plant has two gen-
erating units rated at 660 MW each, both
feeding into a single 187 meter tall stack.
During the CWPS period, however, one
of the units was inoperative.
The field study period was 9-21
February, 1981. During this period, a
total of six independent field experiments
were carried out on five separate days
(February 12, 13, 14, 16, and 20). There
were two separate experiments on the
20th. In four of these experiments, both
primary sampling aircraft (EMI and MRI)
performed coordinated measurements. In
three separate missions, the two aircraft
flew side-by-side to provide data for cross-
comparison. The first three experiments
were conducted under very cold daytime
winter conditions. Ambient conditions
were unseasonably warm during the last
three experiments. One of these experi-
ments was during the night. During the
first and the last experiments, the Kincaid
plume was sampled within the convective
daytime mixing layer; bulk plume trans-
port was in the stable layers aloft during
all other sampling missions. Plume back-
ground was fairly clean during all field
missions.
Data
Each participating group was respon-
sible for quality assurance, post-process-
ing, and validation of its own data. The
final data of the EPA team was centralized
at the WU-ME Special Studies Data
Center at Washington University in St.
Louis. The data of the EPRI team was
centralized at Battelle, Columbus Labora-
tories. The EPA and EPRI data bases
were formally exchanged in 1984. Sub-
sequently, both these subsets of the
overall data base were reformatted and
standardized into a single unified CWPS
data base at our data center. All data files
in this CWPS data base conform to the
standard STATE formats common also to
three other data bases of major EPA-
sponsored Studies (MISTT, Tennessee
Plume Study, and PEPE-NEROS). This
report provides a full documentation of
the final CWPS data base. Future dis-
tribution of the data base will be ad-
ministered by EPA.
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Noor V. Gillaniand VickiL. Bohm are with Mechanical Engineering Department,
Washington University, St. Louis, Mo 63130.
Francis Pooler. Jr. is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Joint EPA-EPRI Cold Weather Plume Study
fCWPS): Overview of Measurements and Data Base," (Order No. PB 87-168
753/AS; Cost: $13.95, 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 Officer can be contacted at:
Atmospheric Sciences Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
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