The DOE URBAN Field Program for 2000-2004

The Department of Energy has initiated a large-scale urban diffusion program (URBAN) to provide field data for evaluation of simulation models. The DOE Chemical Biological Non-Proliferation Program will provide a modeling and prediction capability for the release of chemical and biological agents in an urban environment, and has included in the Program the resources to carry out necessary field tests for model validation. An Experimental Design Working Group has been established. In this presentation we will provide the concept and plans for these tests as they have developed to the time of the Conference.

Plans have been made to carry out URBAN preliminary tests in collaboration with another DOE field test, the Vertical Transport and Mixing Experiment (VTMX) in the Salt Lake Basin during October 2000. URBAN will complement VTMX by adding detail to the flow field and tracer studies in the Salt Lake City downtown. The VTMX/URBAN combine is planning to use tracers to define both the large-scale and the small-scale dispersion effects, where the latter examines the mean flow field and turbulence effects near the source and in the city center. The large-scale dispersion study examines the transport and dispersion influenced by the urban boundary layer and the mesoscale circulation patterns. In October 2000, URBAN collaborators will include NOAA, Air Resources Lab/Field Research Division (Idaho Falls), and meteorological research components from the Army Research Lab, Adelphi MD and from the Dugway Proving Ground, UT.

In 2001-2003, URBAN will take on a more complete field study and involve more collaborators. Progress on model evaluations and lessons learned during the preliminary study will influence the experimental design of this major field test. The experimental effort will be finished in 2003, and the interpretation of data, model evaluations and publications will be completed in 2004. At the end of this presentation we will solicit comments on the plans and expectations of URBAN from the Conference attendees.

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.