SMOKE MANAGEMENT IN THE MONTEREY AREA

1. SMOKE MANAGEMENT IN THE MONTEREY AREA Presented at:2011 NATIONAL AIR QUALITY CONFERENCE, SAN DIEGO Presented by:Bob NunesMonterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District

2. CHALLENGES FACED A Diverse Air Basin Setting Creates Very Different Conditions for Smoke Management between the Cool Coastal Plain and the Hot Inland Valleys. For this reason, the Air District created separate coastal vs. inland zones for our Smoke Management Program. COASTAL INLAND Monterey King City Fort Hunter Liggett

3. TYPICAL SMOKE BEHAVIOR IN A MARINE ENVIRONMENT Smoke Behaves Like Marine Stratus, Becomes Trapped Under the Marine Inversion and Fumigates Smoke to the Ground-Level

4. GOOD SMOKE MANAGEMENTSmoke jettisoned vertically 1,000’s of feet in the air, far above population. BAD SMOKE BEHAVIOR Smoke tracking along the ground where it can impact nearby communities.

5. COMPONENTS OF DISTRICT SMP Ag Burns – Burn clean ag waste under permissive burn day conditions. Range Improvement Burns - High emission events where the objective is to move the smoke above or away from population centers. Fire Hazard Reduction – Reduce hazardous fuel build-up along the Wildland-Urban Interface.

6. BACKYARD BURNING Dry Fuels + Extra Air  Efficient Burn with Less Smoke Damp Fuels  Smoky Burn Operator Innovation Overall Theme – Burn Hot, Dry, Quick and Clean

7. SUPERFUND PRESCRIBED BURNS AT FORMER FORT ORD Smoke Management in a Challenging Setting 7

8. Critical Decisions • What’s at Stake? • Each MOB day costs ~$250k • Public Health • The most significant air quality event in the district • Public Safety • Fire control • Removal of dangerous UXOs

9. SPECIFIC DISTRICT TASKS OPERATIONAL CYCLE: • Input to the planning process • Prescribed Burn Plan, Smoke Management Rx, Air Monitoring Plan. • Collaborate with NPS on forecasts and monitoring during the burn season. • On-site advisor for Incident Commander during burns. • Contribute directly to “Go No Go” Decisions • After Action Review of each burn with recommendations for next annual Burn Plan. • Assist BRAC with District related responses to public comments.

10. Phases of a Fort Ord Prescribed Burn There are two basic phases: • Active Ignition – This is when the burn is actively ignited using aerial ignition and approx 90%+ of the emissions are jettisoned several 1,000’ above through the thermally buoyant column. The SMRx defines conditions necessary for this to occur to prevent significant impacts on population (~ 1 to 3 hours). • Post Ignition Smolder – In the absence of active ignition, residual smoke losses buoyancy and tends to waft near the surface. About 90% of the off-site smoke impacts occur during this phase. ~ (4 to 36 hrs)

11. Measurements. Models and NAPALM! • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kpobfCgAk

12. Smoke Management Strategy • Seeks a very specific set of conditions for the Go/No Go decision: • A meteorological Rx to foster vertical plume development during ignition. • Operational measures to minimize smolder The strategy looks for environmental conditions that will foster development of a vertical column that will jettison the majority of the smoke above population areas. These conditions are rare at Fort Ord.

13. Good Ignition

14. IGNITION vs. SMOLDER PHASE PLUMES Impact free plume aloft. Low-level smoke emerges from smolder field, causing short-term offsite smoke impacts.

15. METEOROLOGICAL MONITORING

16. Network Instrumentation • ASC SoDAR’s (2) • Winds to 300m • Vaisala RWP/RASS • Winds ~150m-3000m • Virtual Temp ~1000m • RAWS (7) • SFC Met • Temp, RH Winds • Moisture Sticks

17. Critical Tools – Sfc Obs

18. Vertical Obs – Ignition Timing Problematic low level wind shear revealed by profiler.

19. Vertical Obs – Post Assessment Wind Driven Smoke Training Over Surface SODAR Reveals the Presence of Lo- Level Wind Shear

20. MESOSCALE METEOROLOGICAL MODELS • MM5 run at the Naval Portgraduate School • 4km • CANSAC Consortium • MM5 4km and 12km • WRF 2km • We need to move forward with fully implemented WRF and suite of products

21. CALPUFF Model Oct 2008 Burn Day

25. DISTRICT 2010 AIR MONITORING Continuous hourly eBAMS PM2.5 monitors were deployed at 3 school sites: • Marshall School • Ingham School • Manzanita School These were co-located at sites where an Army contractor was monitoring PM10. District eBAM PM2.5 monitor

26. Air Quality Index for Smoke Management • AQI • Normally based on the 24 hr averages • 1 to 3 hr from 2008 Wildfire Smoke Guidelines • AQI for Assessing Smoke Impact • Used by CARB • AQI Break Points (1 to 3 hr average PM2.5 conc.) • Good 0-38 ug/m3 • Moderate 39-88 • Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups 89-138 • Unhealthy 139-351 • Very Unhealthy 352-526 • Hazardous > 526

27. MODERATE GOOD

28. Take Away Message • Must have skilled forecasters to provide mesoscale forecasts and onsite guidance to the I/C on the burn day. • Requires inter-agency cooperation. • Planned investments in meteorological measurements are essential. • Conduct credible real-time monitoring. • Communicate impacts based on AQI • Need for better hi-resolution local meteorological models.

29. Questions? Contacts: Bob Nunes bnunes@mbuapcd.org (831)647-9411 x226 Betsy Hibbits bhibbits@mbuapcd.org (831)647-9411 x213