The application of CALMET/CALPUFF to develop agricultural burning procedures on the island of Maui

The meteorological model CALMET and the dispersion model CALPUFF were used to simulate the transport and dispersion of emissions from agricultural burning on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Maui poses unique challenges in the combination of weather patterns, complex terrain, and coastal effects that must be addressed in modeling.

In this application, idealized meteorological scenarios were developed for the Trade Winds, the southerly wind and weather regime associated with Kona Storms, and light and variable wind patterns known as Kona Weather. These meteorological scenarios were used with CALMET to develop three dimensional wind fields. Air parcel trajectories were calculated for the wind fields to identify source-receptor relationships for 281 agricultural fields. Separate agricultural areas on the West Maui coast and in the Central Valley of Maui were examined. CALPUFF simulations were then used to determine the meteorological conditions favorable for burning.