Green Glow Diffusion Program
WHEN:
June 19, 1959 through August 30, 1959
LOCATION: The experimental site was on the Hanford reservation, located in a semiarid region of Southeastern Washington. This site has a roughness length that is on the order of 3cm. To better see the area where these experiments were conducted see Figure II-1 and Figure VI-1 of Volume I.
If someone has latitude and longitude coordinates for the release position, I would like to provide such via this web site.
TRACER: A fluorescent pigment (Zinc Sulfide, U.S. Radian Corporation designation No. 2210) was used as a tracer. Nikola (1977) characterized the Zinc Sulfide tracer as having a density of 4.1 micrometers, with a lognormal distribution having a geometric standard deviation of 1.6 micrometers.
RELEASE:The tracer was dispensed through two standard Todd Insecticide Fog Applicators. To minimize losses on vegetation close to the source, the nozzles of the two dispensers were pointed upward. The elevation angle on the first four experiments gave an effective plume height of 5 to 6 m above ground. From the fifth experiment on, the elevation angle was lowered to 30 degrees, giving an effective height estimated to be about 2 to 3 m above ground. To simulate a point source, the nozzles of the two dispensers were pointed inward, the axis of each making an angle of 40 degrees with the centerline of the sampling grid. For more details on the tracer release, see Chapter V of Volume I.
SAMPLING:
Horizontal Sampling: Total dosages at a height of 1.5m above ground, along six arcs (200, 800, 1600, 3200, 12,800 and 25,600m) downwind of the release. The receptors were spaced at 2 degree intervals on the 200 and 800m arcs; at 1 degree intervals on the 1600 and 3200m arcs; at 0.5 degree intervals on the 12,800m arc, and at 0.25 degree intervals on the 25,600m arc.
Vertical Sampling: Total dosages at 15 heights on 5 posts along the first four arcs. The 5 posts were located at 98, 106, 114, 122, and 130 degrees along the arcs. The vertical sampling varied being higher as downwind distance increased: 26m (200m arc), 42m (400m arc), 62m (800m arc), and 62m (1600m arc).
METEOROLOGY
1. Micrometeorological tower 24.4m in height. Wind speed and temperature are reported for 6 levels on the tower, and wind directions are reported for 4 levels on the tower. I used the wind speeds and temperature values from this tower to estimate Monin-Obukhov lengths and friction velocity values for all of the releases.
2. A 125m meteorological tower. 15-min averages are reported for wind and temperature for 8 levels (2.1, 15,4, 30.5, 45.7, 61.0, 76.2, 91.4, and 121.9m).
3. Rawindsonde observations.
4. Standard surface weather observations.
DISCUSSION
Over the years, a great number of tracer experiments were conducted on the Hanford reservation, as can be seen from the various data sets listed. What has hampered use of this vast collection of data, has been characterizing the deposition, which is disappointing, given the need for data to evaluate atmospheric transport and diffusion models. For this reason, I listed the tracer's characteristics, when I defined the tracer (above).
The releases were made in a shallow broad valley at nighttime - hence the drainage wind flow is following the curvature of the valley floor. It would be interesting to apply modern mesoscale (or microscale) meteorological models to this area to see if better characterizations of the vertical and horizontal dosage values can be obtained, by this means.
Observations of the time of first arrival of the tracer near ground level at distances of 8 and 16 miles from the source indicate that the tracer material which first arrives has traveled with a wind speed greater than the surf ace wind (about 15 ft). It would be necessary to have wind speed measurements between S0 and 100 ft above ground in order to estimate the time of first arrival at these distance even though the source Is no higher than 15 ft. [See Discussion in Elliott et al., (1961), reference and link provided below.]
DIGITAL DATA FILES:
Tracer Observations
1. Horizontal sampling array concentration values. Incorporated in these data listings, I have listed the emission rate, and my estimated values for the Monin-Obukhov length and friction velocity. There were 26 releases, of which 16 were selected for detailed analysis by Fuquay et al., (1964). I have listed the 16 experiments selected by Fuquay et al. (1964) in one data file, and the other 10 experiments in a second data file. [GGlowHorzConc01.txt, 171 KB], [GGlowHorzConc02.txt, 130 KB]
2. Vertical sampling array concentration values. I provide these data values in two formats: one is an Excel file that replicates the raw data listing in Volume II, and a second text file that list the values for analysis. [GreenGlowTable-XIV-2.xls, 409KB] [GreenGlowVertConc.txt, 300KB]
The vertical sampling data listings were obtained by scanning the pages in Volume II, which of course, had errors resulting from faded text. Those errors I found, I have corrected, but there may be other errors. For this reason I have provided the Excel file, so that others can double-check my efforts, and tell me of updates they find.
Meteorological Observations
1. Wind speed, wind direction and temperatures reported from the 24.4m micrometeorological tower. [GreenGlowMicroMet.xls, 28KB]
REFERENCES:
Barad, M.L., and Fuquay, J.J., (1962a): The Green Glow Diffusion Program Volume I. AFCRL-62-251(1). HANFORD Doc. No. HW-71400-Vol. I. Geophysical Research Papers No. 73, Geophysics Research Directorate, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Office of Aerospace Research, United States Air Force, Bedford, Massachusetts, 84 pages. [GreenGlowDataVolumeOne.pdf, 4.2MB]
Barad, M.L., and Fuquay, J.J., (1962b): The Green Glow Diffusion Program Volume II. AFCRL-62-251(II). HANFORD Doc. No. HW-71400-Vol. II. Geophysical Research Papers No. 73, Geophysics Research Directorate, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Office of Aerospace Research, United States Air Force, Bedford, Massachusetts, 313 pages. [GreenGlowDataVolumeTwo.pdf, 16.5MB]
Elliott, W.P., Eagelmann, R.J., Nickola, P.W., (1961): Area-dosage relationships and time of arrival in the Green Glow program. ARCRL-468, Air Force Surveys in Geophysics No. 134, Geophysics Research Directorate, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Office of Aerospace Research, United States Air Force, Bedford, Massachusetts, 42 pages. [GreenGlowDosage.pdf, 2.5MB]
Fuquay, J.J., Simpson, C.L., and Hinds, W.T., (1964): Prediction of environmental exposures from sources near the ground based on Hanford experimental data. Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol. 3:761-770.
Nickola, P.W., (1977): The Hanford 67-series: a volume of atmospheric field diffusion measurements. Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, 454 pages. [NTIS PNL-2433].