[ RadSafe ] wind at 10 meters or nearer the ground?

Michael McNaughton mcnaught at lanl.gov
Tue Jun 3 10:32:55 CDT 2008


Air dispersion models typically use wind data at a height of 10 m. 
This is reasonable for a typical stack; but what if the release and 
the receptor are both nearer the ground where the wind velocity is 
less than at 10 m? Recall that according to the standard 
air-dispersion models, the wind velocity is in the denominator, so 
the concentration is inversely proportional to the wind velocity. 
Therefore, using the wind velocity at a height of 10 m significantly 
underestimates the concentration.

Have any of you dealt with this problem.

Thanks, mike

Mike McNaughton
Los Alamos National Lab.
email: mcnaught at LANL.gov or mcnaughton at LANL.gov
phone: 505-667-6130; page: 505-664-7733 





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