DUSTRAN—history and current development of an atmospheric dust transport model

DUSTRAN (for dust transport) is a dust dispersion model whose development under the leadership of Jerry Allwine at PNNL was motivated by the need for a user-friendly, computationally inexpensive model to estimate dust concentrations generated by vehicular activity, particularly on military bases in the arid western U.S. The model calculates coarsely size-resolved particulate concentrations resulting from both active emissions and wind erosion. The use of the CALMET/CALPUFF/CALGRID modeling system accommodates limited meteorological input data to produce reasonable results. Wind erosion is computed from an adaptation of published models, and active emissions are represented using functions determined from research carried out by the Desert Research Institute. (U.S. EPA AP-42 emission factors can also be selected.) A graphical information system provides the user interface for model and allows users to easily select model domains, surface characteristics, and vehicle routes, weights, and activity characteristics. This presentation will describe the development and physics of DUSTRAN as well as work currently underway to implement an open-source GIS and to improve the representation of deposition in the model.