United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
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Atmospheric Sciences _
Research Laboratory -/
Research Triangle Park NC 27711 /
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Research and Development
EPA/$00/S3-88/031 Sept. 1988
v°/EPA Project Summary
Project PEPE-NEROS (1980)
Description of the Data Base
Noor V. Gillani
Protect PEPE-NEROS was a major EPA-
sponsored field measurement program
conducted during the summer of 1980
out of Columbus, Ohio. The dual objec-
tives were to create data bases for (a) the
study of the evolution and composition
of regional haze episodes occurring in
northeastern U.S., particularly during
summer months, and (b) the study of ox-
Idant formation and transport in urban
plumes and on regional scale. Many
research groups representing EPA,
NASA and other government agencies,
as well as Industry and universities par-
ticipated In the field study. The overall
data base of PEPE-NEROS was centraliz-
ed and standardized at Washington Uni-
versity. This two-part report describes
and documents the data base and its
availability. Part I overviews the
measurements and the data base, and
lists the many reports which contain
details of the measurement platforms
and their missions. Part II gives
documentation of the final General
Distribution Data Base of PEPE-NEROS
which is contained on two magnetic
tapes.
This Project Summary was developed
by ERA'S Atmospheric Sciences Research
Laboratory, Research Wangle Park, NC,
to announce key findings of the research
project that Is fully documented In a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Introduction
Project PEPE-NEROS was a large field
measurement program sponsored by the
Atmospheric Sciences Research Labora-
tory (ASRL) of the U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency, carried out during the sum-
mer of 1980. It represented a coordination
of two separate but related projects, PEPE
and NEROS. The principal objectives of
project PEPE (Persistent Elevated Pollution
Episodes) were to investigate the evolution,
dynamics and kinetics, spatial-temporal
distribution, chemical composition, and op-
tics of regional haze episodes that frequent-
ly occur over multi-state areas of the north-
eastern quadrant of the U.S., particularly
during summer months. The principal ob-
jectives of project NEROS (Northeast
Regional Oxidant Study) were to investigate
the formation and transport of oxidants
within urban plumes and over regional
scales Regional haze episodes, or PEPEs,
may occur only a few times during a sum-
mer, each typically lasting a week or less.
Continuous deployment of a large field ex-
pedition over a five- or six-week period to
study just PEPEs was thus considered un-
wise, and the partnership of PEPE and
NEROS was the practical solution, in which
emphasis during non-PEPE intervals was
on urban-scale studies. The field study was
conducted during the period 15 July to 15
August 1980, and was based at the Ohio
State University in Columbus, Ohio. A con-
current second component of NEROS was
conducted in the Baltimore-Washington
area.
While EPA was the principal sponsor of
the PEPE-NEROS study, NASA also played
a major role through its own funded par-
ticipation. Other federal agencies with
significant participation included DOE,
NOAA, FAA, TVA, and NSF (NCAR), and
there was major participation by industry
and universities. The many participants
specialized in a broad range of measure-
ment techniques and capabilities. The
measurements were very diverse, and in-
cluded chemical, optical, and meteorologi-
cal measurements from stationary and
mobile platforms.both ground-based and
airborne, in-situ and remote sensing, cover-
ing spatial-temporal scales ranging from
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microscale turbulence to synoptic scale
haze, both within and above the planetary
boundary layer.
Following the field program, data-
collecting groups performed their own data
reduction and validation. The "clean" data
were then submitted to the PEPE-NEROS
Data Manager (the author of this report) for
archival in the PEPE-NEROS data base.
The data were converted to standardized
formats, further documented as necessary,
and generally segregated and grouped by
day of measurement. This final data base,
the General Distribution Data Base (GDDB)
is available to users on two 2400-foot
magnetic tapes in a form designed to be
thoroughly documented and user-friendly.
In addition to the GBBD, a number of
hard-copy reports prepared by the various
organizations participating in the study are
also a part of the final PEPE-NEROS data
base. These reports contain details of the
measurement platforms and instrumenta-
tion, and of the measured parameters. A list
of these reports is containedin the full pro-
ject report, which also includes a program
overview of the measurements and the dai-
ly experimental missions.
General Distribution Data Base
The GDDB Project PEPE-NEROS is the
final form of the data base which is normally
available to potential users of the data base.
It is expected to be adequate for the vast
majority of the user community. A very
limited set of users may need the unreduc-
ed data of the EPA-Las Vegas and NASA
Aircraft Lidars and of the NOAA turbulence
aircraft for some special projects. These
detailed data are not included in the GDDB,
but may be obtained directly from the data-
collecting organizations.
The bulk of the data are grouped by day.
For some platforms with extremely small
data sets, the data were retained in single
data files covering the full field study period
(July 15-August 15,1980). These data files
are collectively called the "monthly data
base," as distinguished from the "daily data
base" which consists of all the data files
grouped by day from the 32 days of the
study period.
The entire GDDB is in a highly standar-
dized form. All data files except those con-
taining routine surface and upper air data
of the National Weather Service are
presented in one of two standard STATE for-
mats, which are identical to those of the
GDDBs of other field studies (EPA's MISTT
and Tennessee Plume Study, and the joint
EPA-EPRI Cold Weather Plume Study). All
data of a time-series type, constituting the
bulk of the data, are cast in the STATE-20
format, and all data from vertical soundings
except for the NWS data are cast in the
STATE-VS format.
The STATE formats are substantially self-
documenting. The header records of
STATE-20 identify the project, organization,
platform collecting the data, a brief data
description, time interval between suc-
cessive data records (if regular), FORTRAN
format of the data record, list of parameters
in each data record, and the corresponding
engineering units and physical upper and
lower bounds. Comment records following
the data records generally elucidate mea-
sured parameter names (when necessary)
and give brief when-where-how-why type of
information. The STATE-VS files similarly
provide complete self-documentation. In
both STATE formats, the logical record
length in this GDDB in 80 bytes throughout.
The first file in each daily subset of the
data base is a summary file which contains
a list of the data files present in that day's
data base. Each entry in the list pertains to
a specific data file, and gives the file name,
identifies the organization and platform col-
lecting the data, the type of data and the
file format. Multiple files from the same plat-
form for a given day are separately iden-
tified by including sequential numbering in
the file name.
The monthly data base is similarly head-
ed by a file that consists of a list of files in
the monthly data base, and contains the
same kind of information as is given in the
daily summary file.
The GDDB of PEPE-NEROS is packed
into two 2400-ft industry, standard, 1/2-inch
magnetic tapes. The data density is 1600
bpi, and the data are blocked in fixed
blocks, 1600 bytes per block. Tape 1 con-
tains 417 files comprising the daily data
base for the period July 15 - August 7, in-
clusive, and tape 2 contains 178 files com-
prising the remainder of the daily data base
for the period August 8 - August 15, in-
clusive, and 17 files comprising the mon-
thly data base.
The full report contains a number of
listings to help the users of the data base.
These include a listing of the daily sum-
mary files for each day as well as a listing
of the monthly summary files. Represen-
tative files are partially listed, to show all
the information at the start of each file, in-
cluding identification, parameters, units,
and ranges. For these same files, a number
of records from the end of the file are also
listed, to include the end of the data listing
together with comments, explanations of
the data elements, and quality assurance
information as appropriate. Lastly, the
coding of the National Weather Service sur-
face and upper air data are included for
these users unfamiliar with these codes.
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Noor V. Gillani is with Washington University, St. Louis. MO 63130.
Francis Pooler. Jr., is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Project PEPE-NEROS (1980): Description of the
Data Base," (Order No. PB 88-238 472/AS; Cost: $19.95, subject to change)
will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA22161
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
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA/600/S3-88/031
9000329 PS
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