Air quality impacts from prescribed agricultural and forestry burning, wildfires, and other sources of burning are suspected of posing a threat to human and environmental health. Our understanding of the magnitude of the problem and potential remedies is limited by the incomplete information available on source characteristics and emission levels, pollutant dispersion, population exposure levels to key pollutants, and the resulting human health impacts. Although some burning sources fall under the purview of compulsory or voluntary smoke and other management programs in certain political jurisdictions, air quality impacts respect no political boundaries. While some of management programs have a presence on the Internet, the spatial extent, content, and functionality of their websites are limited. This situation impedes operational and strategic decision-making and the ability of affected communities to develop a coherent perspective on the impacts they have experienced, are experiencing, and will experience.

To assist the USDA Forest Service and EPA Region 10 in addressing this issue, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is designing and implementing the BlueSkyRAINS information system. This web-based system will provide regulatory agencies, burn managers, and the public with information on planned burns, meteorological conditions, pollutant trajectories, and air quality impacts. A prototype BlueSkyRAINS system will be on-line in the spring of 2001 and will provide information for the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and neighboring regions. Key components of the system include:

· Source characteristics and emissions data for prescribed burns. Forestry burning information is being obtained from the FASTRACS database. An electronic system for capturing information on agricultural field burning is being planned.

· Meteorological forecast data to support trajectory and air quality modeling is being provided using output from the University of Washington’s MM5 model runs. Key parameters include winds (at multiple levels), relatively humidity, boundary layer height, and ventilation index.

· Trajectory modeling using NOAA ARL’s HYSPLIT model. 48-hour trajectories will be generated for each prescribed burning site.

· For the prototype system we are exploring the use of HYSPLIT to provide initial estimates of potential air quality impacts. For the second phase of this project, we are planning to use the EPA’s CALMET/CALPUFF modeling system.

· The website will use ArcIMS GIS software to provide interactive displays of emissions sites, MM5 output, plume trajectories, and air quality impacts.

We will work with BlueSkyRAINS users this coming burning season to help plan functionality improvements for the second phase of this system. The long-range goal is to provide users an interactive capability to estimate the potential air quality impacts from their own prescribed burns to support the optimal design and scheduling of these burns.