The evolution of the Laboratory's Research and Development is
intertwined with national and international developments. The following
table shows some important societal issues that occurred within each
decade from 1940 to 2010, and it relates these issues with key ARL
research and development activities in the areas of atmospheric dispersion,
atmospheric chemistry, and climate.
Decade |
Societal Issues |
Atmospheric Dispersion |
Air Quality |
Climate |
1940s |
- Start of the nuclear arms race
- Early work on nuclear reactors for electricity and propulsion
- Severe urban smog pollution begins to be reported.
|
- U.S. Weather Bureau forms a Special Projects Section (SPS) in
Washington DC to support other agencies' atomic activities. The
SPS is the predecessor to ARL
- SPS estimates the location of a secret Soviet atomic bomb test
site
- SPS establishes a Weather Bureau Research Station (later to
become the ARL, Field Research Division) in Idaho Falls, ID, to
provide meteorological support to the National Reactor Testing
Station
- At the request of the Atomic Energy Commission, the U.S.
Weather Bureau conducts, for the first time, a meteorological
survey of the Oak Ridge, TN area to provide detailed information
regarding wind flow patterns and other factors to determine
dispersion of radioactive contaminants
|
|
|
1950s |
|
- U.S. Weather Bureau's survey leads to the establishment of a
research office in Oak Ridge to study atmospheric dispersion
characteristics of that area in support of the Atomic Energy
Commission and the emerging local nuclear industry.
- Provides extensive assistance in editing and publishing one of
the first specialized books on atmospheric dispersion:
Meteorology and Atomic Energy
- Develops dispersion models in support of the weapons testing
program
- Begins development of balloon technologies to conduct
experiments of air flow and dispersion
|
- Began adapting dispersion models to air quality
applications
|
- In cooperation with Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the SPS
establishes a routine program to monitor carbon dioxide at Mauna
Loa, Hawaii.
|
1960s |
- Concerns grow over the spread of radioactive materials due to
nuclear testing
- Environmental movement is launched with the book Silent
Spring
|
- Provides major contributions to the revised book:
Meteorology and Atomic Energy, which became a widely
utilized and referenced book on meteorological influences on
turbulence and diffusion
- Leads assessment of potential atmospheric consequences of
using atomic bombs to help create a new Panama Canal
|
|
- Contributes to the identification of the quasi-biennial
oscillation in the stratosphere, including temperature, winds,
ozone, water vapor, and tropopause height
- Gathers and analyzes climatological data in the Oak Ridge, TN
area
|
1970s |
- Clean Air Act Amendments makes air pollution control a national
responsibility
- The effects of Acid Rain becomes an intensive and far-reaching
policy issue
|
- Develops more advanced models for predicting trajectories of
atmospherically- released material
- Provides significant contributions to understanding and
predicting winds in complex terrain
- Conducts a series of studies of aircraft wake vortices for the
Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration
|
- Leads the first extensive research study of air pollution in an
American urban area-St. Louis, MO
- Initiates measurements of pollutants in precipitation, in
collaboration with EPA and other federal agencies
- Develops air quality models to predict effects of proposed air
quality regulations
|
- Establishes the Geophysical Monitoring for Climatic Change
(GMCC) program with the establishment of 4 global sites to monitor
carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases
- Begins analysis of global upper-air temperature and
stratospheric ozone observations and of U.S. cloudiness and
sunshine
|
1980s |
- Chernobyl disaster
- National Acidic Precipitation Assessment Program formed
- Multiple aircraft suffer severe problems after flying through
clouds of volcanic ash
|
- Publishes Handbook on Atmospheric Diffusion, which is
still widely used today
- Conducts major tracer studies to measure flow of materials over
various distances
|
- Initiates global precipitation chemistry monitoring at remote
locations
- Establishes methodology for widespread measurement of chemicals
depositing on the land
- Initiates development of the HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian
Integrated Trajectory model
|
- Identifies a solar signal in a variety of climate records
- Expands the GMCC to include other trace gases and aerosols
|
1990s |
- Dissolution of Soviet Union
- Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
- New air quality regulations focus on reducing Acid Rain and
Hazardous Air Pollutants
- First assessment by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC)
|
- Contributes to international efforts to predict the path of
materials from nuclear accidents
- Develops a web-based system to deliver NOAA products, including
trajectory simulations for the public
- Develops model for operational volcanic ash plume forecasts
- Begins conducting field experiments using small aircraft
|
- Develops air quality model for regional/urban ozone, particulate
matter, mercury, and other pollutants
- Develops wildfire smoke forecast system
- In collaboration with Oak Ridge National Lab, develops
techniques to measure the flux of mercury between the air and
land
|
- Contributes to the first and second Assessment Reports on
Climate Change for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change
- Detects changes in surface humidity and frequency of extreme
heat events
- Initiates routine carbon dioxide sequestration measurements
|
2000s |
- 9/11
- Enhanced awareness of global climate change
- New Clean Air Act Rules are passed for mercury and Interstate
air pollution
|
- Conducts tracer studies to understand flows in Salt Lake City,
Oklahoma City, and New York City and publishes recommendations for
first responders
- Develops a modeling system to provide weather forecasters direct
access to dispersion predictions for large events
|
- Conducts a comprehensive measurement and modeling study of
atmospheric nitrogen pollutants around Tampa Bay
- Deploys four sites for measuring multiple mercury compounds in
the atmosphere and conducts mercury modeling on source-receptor
relationships.
- Develops operational forecast systems for ozone and wildfire
smoke
|
- Contributes to the third and fourth Assessment Reports on
Climate Change for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change
- Establishes the Climate Reference Network to measure national
trends of temperature and precipitation
- Detects widening of the width of the tropics and finds this is
occurring faster than has been predicted by climate models
- Launches the pilot phase of the modernization of the Historical
Climate Network to measure regional trends of temperature and
precipitation
|
2010s |
- Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
- Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident
|
- Modeled the atmospheric deposition and ground-level air
concentrations of dioxin resulting from the ocean-surface burning of
oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill.
|
- Conducted HYSPLIT modeling of the Fukushima Daiichi accident
|
|