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VISUAL PLUMES MIXING ZONE MODELING SOFTWARE
Citation:
Frick, W E. VISUAL PLUMES MIXING ZONE MODELING SOFTWARE. Presented at Fifth International Marine Environmental Modelling Seminar, New Orleans, LA, October 9-11, 2001.
Impact/Purpose:
Produce a computer model utilizing water transport estimates or real-time current-meter data to track the motion of contaminants from point and other sources, and to predict the concentration of pathogens or other pollutants at beach and other sensitive sites.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a long history of both supporting plume model development and providing mixing zone modeling software. The Visual Plumes model is the most recent addition to the suite of public-domain models available through the EPA-Athens Center for Exposure Assessment Modeling (CEAM) web page. The Windows-based Visual Plumes adapts, modifies, and enhances the earlier DOS-based PLUMES with a new interface, models, and capabilities. Visual Plumes may be described as a public platform for mixing zone models designed to encourage the continued improvement of plume theory and models by facilitating verification and inter-model comparison. The approach implies that modeling consistency should be separated from the scientific process of model development by a protocol for specifying official models for specific flow classes and periods of time.
Some examples are presented to illustrate Visual Plumes' new capabilities. For example, it offers an algorithm for estimating the buildup of background pollution from the re-circulation of previously contaminated receiving water in reasonably one-dimensional estuaries. It features bacterial decay models that estimate temporal changes in first-order decay rates based on environmental stresses, including solar insolation, absorption (depth), salinity, and temperature. The basis for these capabilities is the optional linkage to time-series input files that allows Visual Plumes to simulate mixing zone and far-field parameters for long periods. Visual Plumes' application to OCS oil exploration discharges is also discussed. Examples illustrate these and other unique capabilities. Information is also provided on obtaining guidance useful for accessing this additional modeling power, including the description of mixing zone courses conducted in Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington since Visual Plumes passed peer review last year.