New Mexico Pilot Study: Salt Creek and White Mountain Wilderness

areas

Prepared by: Ilias Kavouras, Vic Etyemezian, Jin Xu, Dave DuBois, Marc Pitchford

Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute

Prepared for: Western Regional Air Partnership, Dust Emissions Joint Forum

Tempe, 11/15/2005

Salt Creek and White Mountain areas: Significant coefficients from

wind vs. dust regression

Confidence level 3-5 1 5

Windblown dust and Upwind Transport 17 5

Unknown 0

Salt Creek EHA results

White Mountain EHA results

Confidence level 3-5 1 5

Windblown dust and Upwind Transport 7 3

Unknown 0

Scope of the study and methodology

Identify the source areas that contributed to elevated dust concentrations

during the worst dust days over the period 2001 – 2003 at Salt Creek and

White Mountain Wildernesses areas in NM

Develop a metric of windblown dust for each area utilizing

1. Dust emissions potential

2. Trajectory analysis

Windblown Dust Index

Dust Emission Potential (DEP) for US

Wind Erodibility Group (WEG) Source: US Department of Agriculture. National Resources Conservation Services National Soil Survey Handbook: Soil Properties and Qualities (Part 618); Data were obtained from: http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/dsdl/muid.e00.gz - Indicator of susceptibility to wind erosion- Classifies soils with similar properties of the soil surface affecting their resistance to soil blowing in cultivated areas. - The range of valid entries for wind erodibility group data is 1, 2, 3, 4, 4L, 5, 6, 7, and 8

7

1WEG1DEP

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

WEG

DE

P

Dust Emission Potential (DEP) for US

Dust Emission Potential (DEP) for Mexico

AVHRR Global Land Cover Classification

NASA/NOAA Pathfinder Land (PAL) data 1981-01-01 to 1994-12-31GLCF1 km, Lat/Long North America13 classes of land cover

1. Water

2-3. Evergreen Forest

4. Deciduous Forest

5. Mixed Forest

6. Woodland

7. Wooded grasslands

Data were obtained from: http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/landcover/data.shtml

8. Closed shrubland

9. Open shrubland

10. Grassland

11. Cropland

12. Bare ground

13. Urban and built-up

1. Combination of land use and WEG data for Mexico areas near US

2. Divide southwest US in four regions

3. Extract WEG values for land use categories for each region

4. Reclassify Mexico Land use data using extracted WEG

Divide northern Mexico into four regions

DEP derived from land use and WEG correlations for each region

Differences between WEG only and WEG/Land use DEP derived values

for each cell

0.14 = one WEG category

Trajectory analysis

NOAA HYSPLIT trajectory model

Duration: 48-hFrequency: Every 3 hoursResolution: 1 hourStarting heights: 500 m.a.g.l.Trajectory speed (km/h) = distance between two trajectory points• 0 – 14 miles/hour• 14 – 20 miles/hour• > 20 miles/hour

Integration using the Kernel spatial probability density normalized by the total number of points

Identify areas where trajectory speed was higher than 20 or 26 miles/hour during worst dust days

Trajectory analysis (for White Mountain during worst dust days,

speed > 20 mph)

Windblown Dust Index

DEP X Traj. Density = Windblown Dust Index

0.00 < WDI < 1.00

A metric of the influence of surrounding areas on Salt Creek and White Mountain dust concentrations

Highlights areas with potential high influence

Specific to the site, trajectory speed criteria, and time period

WDI can be divided by distance from site To: - Take into account dilution en route to site; - Highlight the contribution of local sources

WDI Salt Creek 2001-2003 Traj. Speed > 20 mph

Contours of equal WDI for Salt Creek 2001-2003 Traj. Speed > 20 mph

WDI/distance ratio Salt Creek 2001-2003 Traj. Speed >

20 mph

WDI White Mountain 2001-2003 Traj. Speed > 20 mph

Contours of equal WDI for White Mountain 2001-2003 Traj. Speed > 20

mph

WDI/distance ratio White Mountain 2001-2003 Traj. Speed

> 20 mph

WinterSpring

SummerFall

Winter

Spring

SummerFall

Deliverables of the study

Final report

Maps of DEP for US and Mexico

Annual and seasonal maps

Identify windblown and upwind transport dust areas And

Evaluate their impactAnd

Associate with land cover and land use activities