Urban Canyon Study 2004 (UCS04) - Statement of Work Fri, 07 Nov 2003
Fri, 07 Nov 2003
Abstract
UCS04 is a study of atmospheric transport and dispersion in the deep urban canyons of Midtown
New York City. In early Spring, approximately April 2004, a series of Perfluorocarbon Tracer (PFT) tracers will be released and tracked with up to 50 sampling stations in a downwind direction. Specifically, the area around Madison Square Garden, Pennsylvania Train Station, and the Empire State Building will be studied. There are several political reasons for this selection: It is considered to be a prime target for terrorist activities, it will be the site of the Republican National Convention in September 2004, and it has one of the largest commuter populations in the world. UCS04 will be a pilot exercise and will serve as a preliminary to a much more extensive study in the summer of 2005.
1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND [STEVE EDIT]
This project introduces a plan for continued improvement of our understanding of the atmospheric circulations at ground level in the deep canyons of major cities. A primary goal is to improve the formulation, accuracy, and speed of the flow models that predict contaminant transport and diffusion in the complex urban landscapes. Such computer now-casts and forecasts are needed by emergency responders in times of crisis. The current proposal is to: (a) define a focus neighborhood (approximately ten blocks square) with deep street canyons in Midtown
New York City (NYC); (b) collaborate with the NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to provide a concentration of instrumentation in the selected neighborhood; (c) assemble the data
(building geometries, mesoscale fields) needed for the application, evaluation, and improvement of models that will become part of the OEM arsenal of response tools; and (d) develop a capability for tracer gas releases whereby the models can be evaluated on a regular basis. This deep canyon neighborhood study will be a semi-permanent installation and will allow for a continuous process of model improvement.
1.1 The Urban Atmospheric Observatory (UAO)
The real-time intensive Urban Atmospheric Observatory (UAO) is a necessary step toward development and validation of new technologies in support of the NYC emergency management and anti-terrorism effort (UAO 2003). For example, there are not currently enough wind sensors to allow confident estimation of transport speeds and directions of contaminants in the NYC area. In addition there are no adequate models for deep street canyons
(Vardoulakis et al., 2003). UAO is a dense array of meteorological instrumentation, remote sensing, satellite products, and model output, as well as radiation detection, gamma spectrometer and aerosol measurements distributed throughout the NYC region and also concentrated in a small “neighborhood” area in the heart of Manhattan. The focus neighborhood, developed in a homogeneous urban area, and with a well-developed communication and data collection backbone, will be of immense utility for understanding how atmospheric models of all scales (from building through urban to regional) can be improved, and how they can best be integrated into the city's emergency response program.
UAO will be developed synergistically, by collaborations between partners, teams, and
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Urban Canyon Study 2004 (UCS04) - Statement of Work Fri, 07 Nov 2003 stakeholders (figure 1).. Four agencies are the primary partners in the UAO effort: the
Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML), and the NYC
Office of Emergency Management (OEM). BNL, the lead agency, is responsible for overall implementation of the project and will focus on street-level dispersion. ARL is primarily interested in above-rooftop atmospheric flow and in its interface with the overlying atmosphere.
EML is concerned with radiological monitoring and model predictions of all forms of dispersion through the city. OEM will represent NYC’s interests.
1.2 The NYC Urban Canyon Study
We are beginning a program of concentrated observations, data assimilation, tracer studies, and modelling in street canyons in midtown NYC. Called the New York Urban Canyon
Study (UCS), the study would be the beginning of a long-term, major effort to understand and model atmospheric circulations in urban canyons. A three-year effort is planned for the neighborhood that includes Madison Square Garden, Pennsylvania Train Station, and the Empire
State Building. The study will be divided into the following segments: FY04 : (a) Scientific planning and instrument design, (b) instrumentation deployment in the selected midtown neighborhood, and (c) a series of trial releases of PFT tracer gases (UCS04). FY05 : Hosting a major intensive operation called the NYC Urban Canyon Study (UCS05). FY06 : Follow-up measurements and data analysis. The primary outcome of UCS will be a set of highly improved and validated models and visualization tools that adequately describes the transport and dispersion of an airborne contaminant at ground level in the urban canyons of New York City.
Importantly, these real-time tools will be placed into the hands of the emergency responders and not just confined to scientific analysis.
Figure 1. COMPONENTS OF THE URBAN ATMOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY. The UAO is balanced between direct support of emergency management operations and improvement of the science and hence the models that contribute to the emergency response effort. The heart of UAO is the observational network. The observational network is divided between a regional mesonet (NYCmesonet) and a focused
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Urban Canyon Study 2004 (UCS04) - Statement of Work Fri, 07 Nov 2003 study area in manhattan midtown (Urban Canyon Study). Emergency management tools are shown by the arrows and include: (a) data assimilation tools that quality check and combine all observations into a consistent data product, (b) a 3-D GIS-based visualization tool that allows the OEM to see all observations in real time, and (c) model output visualization tools, usually 2-D maps of the area. The science effort is a long-term continuous process of model improvement and is supported by DOD, NSF, and others. The emergency management effort demands real-time, user-tailored visualization tools and should be supported by the Department of Homeland Security.
The plan for this study makes use of detailed plans developed for two recent urban dispersion experiments, the Urban 2000 study in Salt Lake City (Allwine et al., 2002), and the
Joint Urban 2003 (JUT) study in Oklahoma City (Pace et al., 2003). In addition, the plan follows basic urban boundary layer and dispersion concepts outlined by Oke (1987), Brown (2000),
Hanna and Britter (2002), and other expert reviews. Huber et al. (2000, 2001) reviewed the data required to effectively run high-resolution models and completed a preliminary example in
Manhattan street canyons, which provides recommendations that can be used in the urban canyon study here. A presently developed CFD model set up for lower Manhattan to support the environmental impact following the 9/11 events at the World Trade Center can be extended to support the UAO.
UCS04 will begin by deploying several turbulence meteorological stations on the roof tops of key buildings in the Madison Square Garden neighborhood. (Figure 1 and Figure 2).
These roof top meteorological stations will provide a measure of the winds flowing over the top of the city, called the “streaming flow.” The streaming flow is very important for emergency dispersion models as it points in the direction a contaminated plume will be transported once it mixes up into the atmosphere. We have made measurements that confirm that the streaming flow varies considerably over the city and if we want to predict where a plume will be carried we must have local measurements.
In addition to the roof top stations we must have information of the winds at street level, in the “urban canyons.” New York is a unique city because of the concentration of tall buildings, and it is essential that we define the wind flow here with accuracy. To do this we will want to deploy similar meteorological instrumentation at street level (Figure 3) and the best locations for these are on utility poles, not dissimilar to the many security cameras located throughout the city.
The “canyon stations” will transmit their data via wireless links to nearby “hub” stations in buildings, but they will require power from the utility pole. The canyon stations are quite adaptable as regards power input. They can operate on low voltage DC voltages such as 12 VDC or from 110 or 220 VAC. Our group is quite skilled at instrument design and we have considerable experience in adapting such systems to existing structures.
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Urban Canyon Study 2004 (UCS04) - Statement of Work Fri, 07 Nov 2003
Figure 2. Map of the Madison Square Garden neighborhood showing a suggested placement of meteorological instrumentation and tracer sample sites. The locations of measurement stations, SODARs, samplers and release sites have been placed to show about what we can do in an FY04 intensive study. The region around Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building is our target for the intensive study and tracer release.
We hope that the two types of meteorological instrumentation will be deployed as semipermanent installations, at least for three years. In this way they will become part of the overall UAO sensor network and can be evaluated for their effectiveness as emergency tools.
Once the meteorological array of instrumentation is in place we can carry out a series of
Perfluorocarbon Tracer (PFT) tracer gas releases. PFT gases are harmless, odorless, colorless, and are used routinely by ConEd and other utilities to track leaks in underground conduits. The release takes place over, typically, a 15 minute period then the plumes are tracked with up to 50 sampling stations. A sampling station will be either a battery-powered devices similar to portable radio or a person with a small pump blowing up sample bags. We expect the first release to take place in April with the potential of conducting several more into the summer. The PFT release strategy is under review at this time. In 2004 we expect to make only a few releases and then in
2005, during the intensive period, we will make many more. We hope to study dispersion into and out of the buildings and subway systems as well as in the streets. One topic of interest is rapid vertical transport of contaminant from street level into the streaming flow aloft. Recent observations indicate this vertical transport occurs much faster than current models predict.
Rapid vertical dispersion, if confirmed, will have a strong impact on emergency response as it implies the concentrations and dosages can be much less than currently believed.
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Urban Canyon Study 2004 (UCS04) - Statement of Work Fri, 07 Nov 2003
Several groups are planning to participate in UCS04 aside from the activities proposed herein. At this time the primary funding will come from BNL and from Defense Threat
Reduction Agency (DTRA) who support the Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability
(HPAC) emergency model. Other agencies that will be involved are National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration‘s (NOAA’s) Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), Department of
Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML). the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Rutger‘s University, State University of New York at
Stony Brook (SUNYSB), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National
Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC). The funds provided from DTRA and BNL will be multiplied significantly as others join in.
Stakeholder agencies provide funds for special research efforts under the UAO umbrella.
Tremendous benefit results from this association. As an example, funding from OEM will allow development of a comprehensive meteorological mesonet (NYmesonet) that will provide wind observations and “best fit” data assimilation fields in the streaming air flow above the buildings.
The mesonet will benefit the OEM by providing real-time wind observations and wind fields that will vastly improve performance of models that predict plume transport and diffusion. From this base mesonet, additional projects can emerge from other stakeholders, with pay backs for both the stakeholder and all other participating agencies.
The plan for this study makes use of detailed plans developed for two recent urban dispersion experiments, the Urban 2000 study in Salt Lake City (Allwine et al., 2002), and the
Joint Urban 2003 (JUT) study in Oklahoma City (Pace et al., 2003). In addition, the plan follows basic urban boundary layer and dispersion concepts outlined by Oke (1987), Brown (2000),
Hanna and Britter (2002), and other expert reviews. Huber et al. (2000, 2001) reviewed the data required to effectively run high-resolution models and completed a preliminary example in
Manhattan street canyons, which provides recommendations that can be used in the urban canyon study here. A presently developed CFD model set up for lower Manhattan to support the environmental impact following the 9/11 events at the World Trade Center can be extended to support the UAO.
1.4 Summary
Model predictions of plume dispersion will not improve until they are coordinated with real-time observations on spatial and time scales that are appropriate for the models. This is not different than the observational support required by global climate models, synoptic forecast models, or mesoscale models. The refinement of models to finer and finer scales–from regional scales, to city scales, to neighborhood scales, and, finally, to street scales–results in new questions that must be answered: what observations are needed, what time and spatial scales are best, how do we assimilate the observations to drive models most effectively? Short, intense studies certainly provide answers, but every answer leads to myriad more questions.
We herein propose to establish a permanent testbed by which we can evaluate model performance on a continuing basis, in all seasons and all weather conditions, and from regional to street scales. This prospectus is the beginning of a major advance in urban science.
2. STATEMENT OF WORK [STEVE FILL IN]
2.1 Baseline work, plans and execution of a basic release: $100K
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Urban Canyon Study 2004 (UCS04) - Statement of Work Fri, 07 Nov 2003
(1) Prepare a thorough operations plan for the FY04 study and a preliminary plan for the FY05 intensive. (2) Negotiations and permits with city/state/national agencies to deploy instruments and release gases. (3) Deploy 3D sonic "canyon" stations on selected street utility poles and other locations of opportunity. (4) Deploy roof top sonic stations on selected rooftops. (5) Meeting and experiment report.
2.2 Option 1: CFD Model Support: $100K
(1) Manpower and subcontracts to produce a complete GIS-based building geometry suitable for
CFD models. (We expect several CFD models will participate.) (2) Make NOAA Fluent CFD model preliminary runs for expected wind directions. (3) CFD data analysis. (This money will be supplamented by EPA base funds.)
2.3 Option 2: Data Archive And Dissemination System: $100K
(1) Buy hardware (computers, mass media, and server) for data ingest and dissemination to UAO user scientists. (2) Develop automated tools to ingest roof top and canyon data sets. (3) QA/QC incoming software checks and problem identification forms as web-based tools.
2.4 Option 3: Additional Roof Top Stations: $100K
We will want to increase the coverage of roof top sonic stations and thus better define the boundary layer flow over the city. We will be able to add 5-8 more stations with this option.
2.5 Option 4: Additional Tracer Releases: $100K
This will cover 2-3 additional PFT tracer releases during the April to June time frame.
3. MILESTONES AND SCHEDULE
4. INSTRUMENTATION AND TECHNIQUES
4.1 The BNL PFT Tracer System [PAUL KALB JOHN HEISER WRITE THIS]
PFT background, history at BNL.
Discuss the sampling repeatability, sample integration times, sample options (instantant vs integrated), concentration levels. Be quantitative and succinct. Remember your audience are not cognoscenti.
Tracer source options.
Different species possible. Release rates and release concentrations. Diffusion vs bottle release types.
Samplers, automated systems.
Programability. Battery life time. Sizes and deployment options. Vertical sampling using tubes. Rough costs.
Samplers, bag samples.
Bag costs, sample times. Use of volunteer persons to take bag samples at a selected station. How portable.
If we are faced with a different wind direction how difficult would it be to move to an alternate site?
Samplers, real-time mobile systems.
We have one. How much for additional mobile systems? How can mobile systems be best used in this sort of a study? Time delay between sample and result (1 sec, 1 min, 5 min)?
4.2 Meteorological Roof Top Stations [REYNOLDS]
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Urban Canyon Study 2004 (UCS04) - Statement of Work Fri, 07 Nov 2003
4.3 Meteorological Canyon Stations [REYNOLDS]
5. PARTICIPANTS AND COLLABORATORS
6. REFERENCES
Allwine, K.J., J.H. Shinn, G.E. Streit, K.L. Clawson, M. Brown (2002) Overview of Urban 2000.
Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc.
, 83 (4), 521-536.
Brown, M.J. (2000) Urban parameterizations for mesoscale meteorological models, Chapter 5 in
Mesoscale Atmospheric Dispersion (ed., Z. Boybeyi), WIT Press, Ashurst Lodge,
Ashurst, Southhampton S0407AA UK, pp. 193-255.
Britter, R.E. and S.R. Hanna (2003) Flow and dispersion in urban areas. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech.
,
35 , 469-496.
Chang J.C. and S.R. Hanna (2003) Air quality model performance. Submitted to Meteorol. and
Atm. Physics .
Coceal, O., and S.E. Belcher (2003) A canopy model of mean winds through urban areas.
Submitted to Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc .
Hanna SR and Britter RE. (2002) Wind Flow and Vapor Cloud Dispersion at Industrial and
Urban Sites.
ISBN No: 0-8169-0863-X, AIChE. 3 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016, 140 pages + CD-ROM.
Hanna SR, R.E. Britter RE, and P. Franzese (2003) A baseline urban dispersion model evaluated with Salt Lake City and Los Angeles Tracer data. Submitted to Atmospheric
Environment .
Hanna SR and JC Chang. (2003) Overview of model evaluation history and procedures in the atmospheric air quality area. To be published in QNET-CFD Newsletter on
Environmental Issues .
Huber, A., M. Bolstad, M. Freeman, S. Rida, K. Kuehlert, and E. Bish (2000) Addressing human exposures to air pollutants around buildings in urban areas with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models . AMS Third Symposium on the Urban Environment, 14-18
August 2000, Davis CA
Huber, A. H., M. Freeman, S. Rida, K. Kuehlert, and E. Biush (2001) Development and applications of CFD in support of air quality studies of roadway and building microenvironments . Presented at the 94th A&WMA Annual Conference, Orlando FL
June 24--28, 2001, Paper#1035.
Kastner-Klein, P., E. Fedorovich, M. Ketzel, R. Berkowicz, R.E. Britter (2003) The modelling of turbulence from traffic in urban dispersion models-Part II: Evaluation against laboratory and full-scale concentration measurements in street canyons. Environmental Fluid
Mechanics , 3 , 145-172.
Oke, T.R., (1987) Street design and urban canopy climate. Energy and Buildings , 11 , 103-113.
Pace, J., et al. (2003) Joint Urban 2003 Atmospheric Dispersion Study, Oklahoma City, July
2003, Experimental Plan , Draft report from DTRA and DOE/CBNP, dated May 27.
UAO (2003) Urban Atmospheric Observatory First Planning Workshop . Meeting Report,
BNL#71195, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton NY 11973. 30 pp. (Available on http://www.uao.bnl.gov/meetings ).
7. ACRONYMS AND GLOSSARY
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