Lakes Environmental e-Newsletter

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Upcoming Courses

Date	Course	Location	Registration
Nov 3-4, 2014 Nov 5-6, 2014	AERMOD CALPUFF	São Paulo, Brazil	Register Now
Nov 17-18, 2014 Nov 19-21, 2014	AERMOD CALPUFF	Denver, CO	Register Now
Nov 26-27, 2014 Nov 28-29, 2014	AERMOD CALPUFF	New Delhi, India	Registration Closed

Date	Course	Location	Registration
Feb 2-3, 2015 Feb 4-5, 2015	AERMOD CALPUFF	Toronto, ON	Register Now
Feb 23-24, 2015 Feb 25-27, 2015	AERMOD CALPUFF	Dallas, TX	Register Now
Mar 9-10, 2015 Mar 11-12, 2015	AERMOD CALPUFF	Singapore	Registration Coming Soon
May 4-5, 2015 May 6-8, 2015	AERMOD CALPUFF	Las Vegas, NV	Registration Coming Soon
Jun 1-2, 2015 Jun 3-4, 2015	AERMOD CALPUFF	Edmonton, AB	Registration Coming Soon

For more information on the above courses, including registration information, location, and course outlines, please visit our web site: https://www.weblakes.com/courses.html.

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Modeling Tip

Common Upper Air Data Errors in AERMET

Several air dispersion models require measurements of vertical meteorological parameters or “upper air data”. This data is recorded from weather balloons launched simultaneously around the globe at 00Z and 12Z each day. Data is made available from several resources including the NOAA/ESRL Radiosonde Database. Users can look up and download data for worldwide locations as far back as the mid-1940s. The Forecast Systems Laboratory format, or FSL format, is used by several meteorological data preprocessors including READ62, the upper air data pre-processor for the CALPUFF modeling system, and AERMET.

When running AERMET, fatal errors can stop the model from successfully completing its processing. One problem can occur while downloading data. After a user submits a request for data, the information will be printed to the screen of their internet browser. Users can right-click and use the Save As context menu to save the data to a text file, or they can copy and paste the data from the browser into a blank text file. When using the former method, some internet browsers will save the file as an encoded text file which AERMET cannot read. The error message in the AERMET Message file will appear to contain an invalid date:

21068088 UPPERAIR E33 GETFSL : ERROR READING 1st RECORD OF FSL SDG # 1

The first characters in the error message should report a date in YYMMDD format. The string of unexpected values there indicates that the file encoding is invalid for AERMET. Changing the encoding is simple:

1. Open the FSL file in Notepad
2. Select File | Save As
3. Change the Encoding drop-down menu to "ANSI"

Below is another example of the E33 error code which contains valid date information but still reports an error in reading sounding data.

111231 UPPERAIR E33 GETFSL : ERROR READING 1st RECORD OF FSL SDG # 5861

This message can appear when there is an extra carriage return (e.g., blank line) at the end of the file. You can identify such issues by referring to the date (e.g., 111231 is December 31, 2011). Since the file used in this example ended at 31/12/11, it indicates that the extra line exists at the end of the file. Once the extra line is removed and the file saved, AERMET should run without any issue.

If you’ve encountered an error message while processing data and need assistance in understanding the problem, you can contact our technical support team via email (support@weblakes.com). Our dedicated team of specialists will help you quickly analyze and fix the problem.

Submit Your Modeling Tips Today!

We are currently accepting submissions for the Monthly Modeling Tip section that appears in our newsletters. If you have a modeling tip that may benefit our readers, please send it to us at support@webLakes.com. Your name and the name of your organization will appear below the tip providing you with an opportunity for increased exposure.

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Articles

Air Pollution Levels Plunge 99% in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv over Yom Kippur

October 7, 2014 – Cities around Israel experienced dramatic drops in air pollution levels on Yom Kippur – the sole day in the year when traffic essentially ceases to flow – with Jerusalem and Gush Dan boasting a decrease of nitrogen oxides by a whopping 99 percent.

Throughout the country, air pollution levels plummeted on Saturday, in some places nearly eliminating the presence of nitrogen oxides – contaminants prominent in motor vehicle emissions, the Environmental Protection Ministry explained.

The phenomenon was observed most in the big cities, regions typically affected by air pollution emitted from vehicles.

Read Full Article Here

U.S. Pledges Climate Change Planning Assistance to Developing Countries

October 3, 2014 - The United States will commit to significantly improving developing countries' access to data, tools and training to help them adapt to climate change, the US president told the Climate Summit in New York.

Barack Obama pledged to immediately release higher resolution topographical data for Africa, to scale up a training programme to boost meteorologists’ ability to monitor and predict climate change, and to create a public-private partnership to put climate-relevant information and tools in the hands of developing world policymakers.

Read Full Article Here

EPA Releases Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data from Large Facilities

September 30, 2014 - WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its fourth year of Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program data, detailing greenhouse gas pollution trends and emissions broken down by industrial sector, geographic region and individual facilities. In 2013, reported emissions from large industrial facilities were 20 million metric tons higher than the prior year, or 0.6 percent, driven largely by an increase in coal use for power generation.

Read Full Article Here

Countries with the Worst Air Pollution Ranked by World Health Organisation

August 28, 2014 - The World Health Organization (WHO) released its 2014 report into global air pollution with some concerning finds. The database looked at the air pollution levels of 1600 cities across 19 countries by using a reading called PM2.5 and PM10. PM2.5 is considered the best indicator of assessing health impacts from air pollution and examines the concentration of fine particulate pollution of 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (PM2.5).

Read Full Article Here

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Upcoming Conferences & Trade Shows

Date	Conference	Location
Oct 29, 2014	A&WMA Inter-Mountain Oil and Gas Environmental Conference More Info	Denver, CO, USA
Nov 5-7, 2014	Seventh International Symposium on Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases (NCGG7) More Info	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nov 9-13, 2014	SETAC North America 35th Annual Meeting More Info	Vancouver, BC, Canada
Nov 10-14, 2014	7th International Congress on Environmental Geotechnics More Info	Melbourne, Australia
Dec 2-5, 2014	Pollutech 2014 More Info	Lyon, France
Jan 4-8, 2015	American Meteorological Society (AMS) 95th Annual Meeting More Info	Phoenix, AZ, USA
Feb 16-18, 2015	EUEC 2015 More Info Lakes Environmental will be at booth #812	San Diego, CA, USA
Apr 28-29, 2015	CANECT 2015 More Info Lakes Environmental will be at booth #1438	Toronto, ON, Canada
Jun 22-25, 2015	A&WMA 108th Annual Conference & Exhibition More Info	Raleigh, NC, USA

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About this Newsletter

This newsletter contains information gleaned from various sources on the web, with complete links to the sources cited. Organizations cited are in no way affiliated with Lakes Environmental Software.

Lakes Environmental Software is a leading environmental IT company that offers a complete line of air dispersion modeling, risk assessment, emissions inventory, and emergency release software as well as training and custom software services. With satisfied users located around the globe, Lakes Environmental Software will continue to revolutionize the environmental software field.

For more information please visit our web site at: www.webLakes.com.  You may also contact us by phone at (519) 746-5995 or by fax at (519)746-0793.

All comments and suggestions are welcome.  You can e-mail us at: support@webLakes.com.

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