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Research Project: ASSESSMENT OF THE EMISSION AND DISPERSION OF GASES AND PARTICULATES FROM AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS

Location: Air Quality of Agricultural Systems Research

2007 Annual Report


1a.Objectives (from AD-416)
1) Develop new methods and improve existing methods to measure emissions of particulate matter and gases from crop production and processing operations, and animal feeding operations;.
2)Develop and determine the effectiveness of management practices and control technologies to reduce emissions; and.
3)Develop tools to predict emissions and their dispersion across a range of agricultural production systems, management practices, and environmental conditions.


1b.Approach (from AD-416)
The approach to address these objectives is multi-faceted and includes a range of experimental and theoretical studies. Studies will be conducted to detrmine the particulate emission from livestock and cropping systems as a model system to evaluate micrometeorological models applicable to limited fetch conditions. These observations will be used to refine existing dispersion models for more realistic conditions in agriculture. Studies will be conducted on the development of technologies that can be used to quantify the ambient levels of gases in the atmosphere surrounding livestock, processing facilities, and cropping systems. These studies will require the development and evaluation of new instruments with an ability to quantify low concentrations of gases and particulate material.


3.Progress Report
This report serves to document the progress under a Specific Cooperative Agreement between Utah State University, Space Dynamics Laboratory and ARS. Additional details of the research can be found in the parent project 3625-11630-002-00D, Emission and Dispersion of Air Quality Constituents from Agricultural Systems. The focus during the past year has been to evaluate the emission of particulates from an almond orchard and a cotton gin. Detailed measurements were made of the particulate emissions during almond harvest using point samplers and the three-wavelength lidar. These observations were coupled with micrometeorological measurements using wind and temperature profiles and sonic anemometers to quantify the stability and turbulence of the atmosphere. A similar set of observations were collected around a cotton gin during a gin run. The Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system has the ability to track the plume being emitted by the harvesting or ginning operations. Analyses are underway to evaluate the accuracy of the LiDAR estimates of the particle matter (PM) and total suspended particulates from these operations. Additional studies are being designed to evaluate the PM10 emissions from tillage operations and the gas and PM emission plumes from a dairy operation. These data will determine the potential of being able to couple meteorological observations with lidar to quantify emission and dispersion from agricultural operations. Biweekly teleconferences are held between the groups to discuss experimental planning and data analysis.


   

 
Project Team
Hatfield, Jerry
 
Project Annual Reports
  FY 2007
  FY 2006
  FY 2005
  FY 2004
 
Related National Programs
  Air Quality (203)
  Manure and Byproduct Utilization (206)
 
 
Last Modified: 11/08/2008
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