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(15200477 - Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society) NOAA's HYSPLIT Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling System
(15200477 - Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society) NOAA's HYSPLIT Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling System
This work presents HYSPLIT’s historical evolution over the last three decades along with
recent model developments and applications.
T
he National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- most common model applications is a back-trajectory
istration (NOAA) Air Resources Laboratory’s analysis to determine the origin of air masses and
(ARL) Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Inte- establish source–receptor relationships [Fleming et al.
grated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT) (Draxler and (2012) and references therein]. HYSPLIT has also
Hess 1998) is a complete system for computing simple been used in a variety of simulations describing the
air parcel trajectories as well as complex transport, atmospheric transport, dispersion, and deposition of
dispersion, chemical transformation, and deposition pollutants and hazardous materials. Some examples
simulations. HYSPLIT continues to be one of the most of the applications (Table 1) include tracking and
extensively used atmospheric transport and disper- forecasting the release of radioactive material (e.g.,
sion models in the atmospheric sciences community Connan et al. 2013; Bowyer et al. 2013; H. Jeong
[e.g., more than 800 citations to Draxler and Hess et al. 2013a), wildfire smoke (e.g., Rolph et al. 2009),
(1998) on Web of Science; http://thomsonreuters wind-blown dust (e.g., Escudero et al. 2011; Gaiero
.com/thomson-reuters-web-of-science/]. One of the et al. 2013), pollutants from various stationary and
mobile emission sources (e.g., Chen et al. 2013), al-
lergens (e.g., Efstathiou et al. 2011), and volcanic ash
AFFILIATIONS: Stein, Draxler , Rolph, Stunder , and Cohen —
(e.g., Stunder et al. 2007).
NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory, College Park, Maryland;
The model calculation method is a hybrid between
Ngan —NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory, and Cooperative
Institute for Climate and Satellites, College Park, Maryland
the Lagrangian approach, using a moving frame of
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Ariel F. Stein, NOAA/Air Re- reference for the advection and diffusion calcula-
sources Laboratory, R/ARL–NCWCP–Room 4205, 5830 Univer- tions as the trajectories or air parcels move from
sity Research Court, College Park, MD 20740 their initial location, and the Eulerian methodology,
E-mail: ariel.stein@noaa.gov which uses a fixed three-dimensional grid as a frame
The abstract for this article can be found in this issue, following the of reference to compute pollutant air concentrations
table of contents. (the model name, no longer meant as an acronym,
DOI:10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00110.1 originally reflected this hybrid computational ap-
A supplement to this article is available online (10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00110.2) proach). The HYSPLIT model has evolved throughout
In final form 27 April 2015
more than 30 years, from estimating simplified single
©2015 American Meteorological Society trajectories based on radiosonde observations to a
system accounting for multiple interacting pollutants
transported, dispersed, and deposited over local to calculations have been one of the backbones of ARL’s
global scales. In this paper we walk the reader through research activities (e.g., Angell et al. 1966, 1972, 1976).
the model’s history describing the ideas that inspired During the mid-1960s, Pasquill (1961) and Gifford
its inception, the evolution of the scientific concepts (1961) described the estimation of the horizontal and
and parameterizations that were incorporated into vertical standard deviation of a continuous plume
successive model versions, and the most recent in- concentration distribution, which constituted the
novations. basis for the construction of the so-called Gaussian
dispersion models. One such model was developed
MODEL HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: at ARL (Slade 1966, 1968; Fig. 1) based on data from
1940s–70s. The scientific foundation and inspira- the well-known Project Prairie Grass (Barad 1958).
tion for HYSPLIT’s trajectory capabilities can be Using this Gaussian approach and assuming steady
traced back to 1949 (Fig. 1), when the Special Project state with homogeneous and stationary turbulence,
Section (SPS) (ARL’s predecessor) of the U.S. Weather air concentrations were estimated based on wind
Bureau [now NOAA’s National Weather Service data collected at a single site. Extending this work in
(NWS)] was charged with trying to find the source the late 1960s and early 1970s to handle more real-
of radioactive debris originating from the first Soviet istic (changing) weather conditions, ARL scientists
atomic test and detected by a reconnaissance aircraft developed the Mesoscale Diffusion (MESODIFF)
near the Kamchatka Peninsula. For that purpose, model (Start and Wendell 1974; Fig. 1) in response
back trajectories were calculated by hand based to health and safety concerns at the Idaho National
on wind data derived from twice-daily radiosonde Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) related to planned
balloon measurements. These trajectories followed or accidental releases of radioactive material into the
500-hPa heights assuming geostrophic wind flow. atmosphere. This segmented Gaussian puff model
Although these back trajectories were calculated more used gridded data interpolated from a network of
than 60 years ago, the percentage error between the 21 tower-mounted wind sensors located within the
calculated and actual source location relative to the boundaries of the NRTS (Wendell 1972) to account
distance covered by the trajectories was remarkably for spatial variability of the horizontal wind flow near
low (about 5%; Machta 1992). Since then, trajectory the surface. The simulations used a maximum of 400
puffs and incorporated time-varying diffusion rates. locations in the Midwestern United States during a
A similar approach was used during the mid-1970s, 2-month field experiment (Draxler 1982). Later on,
when ARL researchers (Heffter et al. 1975) combined HYSPLIT version 2 (HYSPLIT2; Fig. 1) included
trajectories with a Gaussian plume model to compute the use of interpolated rawinsonde or any other
long-range air concentrations from gaseous or par- available measured data to estimate vertical mixing
ticulate emissions from a uniform, continuous point coefficients that varied in space and time (Draxler
source based on rawinsonde data. and Stunder 1988). These mixing coefficients were
derived from the Monin–Obukhov length, friction
HYSPLIT DEVELOPMENT HISTORY: 1980s– velocity, and surface friction potential temperature
2000s. These previous dispersion studies established (Draxler 1987). This model version was applied to
the scientific basis for the development of HYSPLIT, simulate the Cross Appalachian Tracer Experiment
version 1 (HYSPLIT1), in the early 1980s (Draxler (CAPTEX; Ferber et al. 1986). Before the early 1990s,
and Taylor 1982; Fig. 1). In this initial version, seg- HYSPLIT only used rawinsonde observations with
mented pollutant puffs were released near the surface very limited spatial (e.g., 400 km) and temporal
and their trajectories were followed for several days. (e.g., 12 h) resolution for the calculation of transport
Transport was calculated from wind observations and dispersion. Not until development of HYSPLIT
based on rawinsonde data (not interpolated) taken version 3 (HYSPLIT3; Fig. 1) did the model utilize
twice daily. Assumptions included no vertical mix- gridded output from meteorological models such as
ing at night and complete mixing over the planetary the Nested Grid Model (NGM; Table 2). HYSPLIT3
boundary layer (PBL) during the day. Nocturnal allowed the calculation of trajectories as well as trans-
wind shear was modeled by vertically splitting the port and dispersion of pollutants using cylindrical
puffs that extended throughout the PBL into 300-m puffs that grow in time and split when reaching the
subpuffs during the nighttime transport phase of the grid size of the meteorological data (Draxler 1992).
calculation. The model was used to simulate Kr-85 This version was applied to simulate the Across North
released to the atmosphere and sampled at multiple America Tracer Experiment (ANATEX; Draxler and
Heffter 1989). Chemical formation and deposition of fate and transport of semivolatile (SV) pollutants by
sulfate (SO2–
4
; Rolph et al. 1992, 1993a) were incor- incorporating a dynamic vapor/particle partitioning
porated into HYSPLIT3 in a first attempt to include algorithm and including chemical transformations
chemistry in the modeling system. This application initiated by the hydroxyl radical (OH) and photolysis.
incorporated gas- and aqueous-phase oxidation of HYSPLIT-SV has been used to estimate the transport
sulfur dioxide (SO2) and dry and wet removal of SO2 and deposition of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin
and aerosol SO2– 4
. In HYSPLIT3, chemical transfor- and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) to
mations occurred only within each Lagrangian puff, the Great Lakes, including the estimation of detailed
without any interaction with other puffs. As part of a source–receptor relationships (Cohen et al. 1995,
broader acid precipitation research effort, the model 1997b, 2002). Also, HYSPLIT-SV was utilized to
was applied over the eastern United States for 1989 obtain source–receptor results for atrazine transport
and compared against observed seasonal and annual and deposition to the Great Lakes and other sensitive
spatial patterns of SO2 and SO2– 4
concentrations in ecosystems (Cohen et al. 1997a).
air and wet deposition of SO2– from precipitation.
4
By the end of the 1990s, many new features
HYSPLIT3 was also used to model the atmospheric had been incorporated into HYSPLIT version 4
Table 3. Statistical model performance measures for the six CAPTEX experiments. Values are
given as rank, which is a normalized combination of the four statistics R, FB, FMS, and KSP [see
Eq. (4) and text for details].
Instantaneous Time-averaged
winds (Kantha winds (Kantha Time-
Instantaneous and Clayson and Clayson averaged
Run winds (TKE) 2000) 2000) winds (TKE)
CAPTEX-1 2.94 2.49 2.34 2.69
CAPTEX-2 2.79 3.11 3.24 2.90
CAPTEX-3 1.80 1.91 1.94 1.84
CAPTEX-4 2.14 2.31 2.14 2.18
CAPTEX-5 2.81 2.62 2.71 2.87
CAPTEX-7 2.37 2.36 2.64 2.48
. (4)