SERDP and ESTCP have launched a webinar series to promote the transfer of innovative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions developed through projects funded in five program areas. The webinar series targets Department of Defense and Department of Energy practitioners, the regulatory community and environmental researchers with the goal of providing cutting edge and practical information that is easily accessible at no cost.

________________________________

Webinar #68 (03/08/2018)

Quantifying and Modeling Fugitive Dust Emissions from DoD Activities

Dr. Larry Wagner, USDA Agricultural Research Service

Dr. Jack Gillies, Desert Research Institute

March 8, 2018

12:00 PM ET (9:00 AM PT)

Presentation Slides

Abstract

“Measurement and Modeling of Fugitive Dust from Off-Road DoD Activities” by Dr. Larry Wagner

The United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DoD) conducts military training and testing activities on approximately 12 million hectares of land. Training exercises using vehicles can create land conditions susceptible to wind erosion. Wind may blow dust particulate matter out of the training area and impact air quality downwind. The objectives of this study were to (1) understand the potential of fugitive dust emission from military activities, and (2) help DoD comply with particulate matter emission regulations and monitor for fugitive dust emissions at fence-lines of military installations. This project sought to address impacts on wind erosion risk after vehicle traffic by measuring soil, surface and vegetation characteristics related to wind erosion susceptibility. Accurately assessing these characteristics is critical to understanding the impacts on downwind areas within 200 meters of the source. Second, the project sought to assess each site’s ability to recover from trafficking events (i.e., decreases in the risk of wind erosion). Finally, the project initiated the development of a new particulate measuring device, a Compact Eye-Safe Lidar System (CELiS), and method to monitor particulates crossing a fence-line due to military training/testing and other activities.

"Characterizing and Quantifying Emissions and Transport of Fugitive Dust Emissions Due to Department of Defense Activities" by Dr. Jack Gillies

This presentation will describe recent improvements in our understanding and ability to quantify dust emissions generated during DoD activities. In addition to developing a new understanding of dust emission processes related to DoD testing and training activities, this project identified the fate of those emissions as the dust interacts with the landscape, and advanced and refined a comprehensive dust modeling system known as the Dust Transport Model (DUSTRAN V2). Field measurement systems and methods were developed to quantify emissions, as well as potential emissions using the TRAKER^TM and PI-SWERL® instruments. These methods have been accepted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as Other Test Methods (OTM). New formulations of emission factors and measurement methods allow results from specific areas to be generalized to areas and installations where measurements were not acquired. This gives more defensible estimates of dust contribution from testing and training activities than was previously available. DUSTRAN’s code was restructured to operate using open-source GIS and incorporate the US EPA AEROMOD dispersion model to meet regulatory applications. Characterization of terrain effects that modulate dust emission and transport may also lead to more accurate estimates of these contributions.

Speaker Biographies

Dr. Larry Wagner is an agricultural engineer who has worked for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service for 29 years. During this period, he was part of the Wind Erosion Research Unit in Manhattan, Kansas, but recently moved to the Rangeland Resources and Systems Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado. Dr. Wagner’s current work revolves around basic wind erosion as well as continued development and enhancement of the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS). WEPS is a process-based, daily time step, wind erosion simulation model. Larry has been the lead scientist of the WEPS team since 1999. He oversaw the final development stages of WEPS and shepherded it through the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS) extensive testing and evaluation stages prior to implementation within the agency. WEPS was adopted by NRCS in 2010 and is now their primary wind erosion diagnostic tool for determining the effect management practices have on wind erosion risk and severity levels in agricultural cropland fields. He has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed research papers as well as 70+ additional publications. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering and a doctoral degree in engineering from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.

Dr. Jack Gillies is research professor in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences of the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada. Currently, his research focuses on the physics of sand transport and dust emission by wind and anthropogenic processes. His work covers the full spectrum of the system from the controls on the initiation of sediment, the transport phase and the deposition process. As part of his research, he has also been involved in developing mitigative actions that can be used to ameliorate environmental problems associated with dust transportation processes. Dr. Gillies has served as principal investigator on three SERDP projects that have examined relationships between dust emissions and military testing and training activities. He is also currently the principal investigator for an ESTCP project that is seeking certification for the TRAKER^TM mobile dust measurement platform for unpaved roads and tracks. Jack has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed papers, many related to dust in the environment. In 2015, he co-founded Dust-Solve, LLC, bringing dust measurement capabilities and dust emission mitigation expertise to the marketplace. He earned a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and doctoral degrees in physical geography from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.  

View Past Webinars