Meteorological Processors and Accessory Programs
Surface and upper air data, provided by NWS, are important inputs for air quality models. Before these data are used in some of the EPA dispersion models, meteorological processors are used to manipulate the data. Some of these processors re-format data for input into air quality dispersion models, while other processors use the NWS observational data to calculate important inputs for the dispersion models. These processors include: AERMET, MIXHGT, MPRM, PCRAMMET, and STAR.
Other accessory programs are also provided that produce graphical or statistical outputs that can aid in the interpretation and understanding of the NWS data or dispersion model results. These accessory programs include: BINTOASC, METLIST, WINDROSE, WRPLOT.
Meteorological Processors
| Models |
|---|
| AERMET - Version 16216 |
| AERMET is a meteorological data preprocessor for AERMOD. AERMET processes commercially available or custom on-site met data and creates two files: a surface data file and a profile data file. The tool AERSURFACE can be used to estimate the surface characteristics for input to AERMET. |
| Model Code |
| Executable - v16216 (ZIP)(815 K) Source Code - v16216 (ZIP)(464 K) |
| Model Documentation |
|
README (TXT)(1 K) Model Change Bulletin #7 - Version Date 16216 (PDF)(1 pg, 31 K) |
| Test Cases |
| Test Cases README (TXT)(1 K) Test Cases (ZIP)(151.2 M) FIXISHD Utility Program - This is no longer needed. |
| AERMINUTE - Version 15272 |
| AERMINUTE processes 1-minute ASOS wind data to generate hourly average winds for input to AERMET in Stage 2. |
| Model Code |
| AERMINUTE (ZIP)(518 K) |
| Model Documentation |
| README (TXT)(1 K) User's Guide - v15272 (PDF)(65 pp, 1 M, 2015) Model Change Bulletin #4 - Version Date 15272 (TXT)(1 K, 2015) Model Change Bulletin #3 - Version Date 14337 (TXT)(1 K, 2014) Model Change Bulletin #2 - Version Date 14237 (TXT)(2 K, 2014) Model Change Bulletin #1 - Version Date 11325 (TXT)(1 K, 2011) |
| MIXHGT (Mixing Height Program) |
| A program which calculates twice daily mixing heights for use in PCRAMMET. This program requires surface and radiosonde files as inputs. |
| Model Code |
| Executable (ZIP)(130 K) - Readme included Source Code (ZIP)(19 K) |
| Model Documentation |
| Test Case (ZIP)(827 K) User's Guide (ZIP)(11 K) Latest Model Change Bulletin (TXT)(1 K, 1998) |
| MPRM (Meteorological Processor for Regulatory Models) |
| A program used to process meteorological data, both National Weather Service and on-site, for use in regulatory modeling. MPRM has 3 stages: (1) listing missing, suspect , and invalid data, (2) merging quality assured and corrected meteorological data, and (3) creating meteorological data files for input to air quality dispersion models. It contains the PCRAMMET program. |
| Model Code |
| MPRM Executable (ZIP)(244 K) - Revised June 24, 1999 Executable for data extraction and quality assurance (ZIP)(265 K) Source Code (ZIP)(200 K) - Revised June 24, 1999 |
| Model Documentation |
| README (TXT)(5 K) - Revised June 24, 1999 Test Case (ZIP)(197 K) - Revised June 24, 1999 User's Guide (ZIP)(272 K) Addendum to User's Guide(12 pp, 42 K) Latest Model Change Bulletin (TXT)(2 K, December 1999) |
| PCRAMMET |
| A meteorological processor which combines hourly NWS surface and twice daily mixing heights into a single file, computes a mixing height for each hour. PCRAMMET also incorporates surface characteristic parameters (Monin-Obukhov length, surface roughtness length, albedo, Bowen ratio, anthropogenic heat flux, and net radiation) for deposition modeling. Output from PCRAMMET is commonly used as input to ISCST3 and BLP. PCRAMMET is a PC version of the original RAMMET program. |
| Model Code |
| Executable (ZIP)(160 K) - README included. Source Code (ZIP)(52 K) |
| Model Documentation |
| User's Guide (PDF)(95 pp, 157 K, Revised 1999) Latest Model Change Bulletin (TXT)(52 K) |
| Test Cases Using Different Input Data Formats: |
| PCREX1 (ZIP)(323 K) - CD144/TD3240 fixed format example PCREX2 (ZIP)(291 K) - SAMSON example PCREX3 (ZIP)(174 K) - SCRAM example PCREX4 (ZIP)(322 K) - CD144/TD3240 variable format example PCREX5 (ZIP)(320 K) - HUSWO data |
| Tutorial |
| PCRAMMET Demonstration (ZIP)(362 K) PCRAMMET Program (ZIP)(166 K) Tutorial Documentation (ZIP)(27 K) Instructions on PCRAMMET tutorial (TXT)(2 K) |
| STAR (STability ARray program) |
| This program calculates a frequency distribution for wind speed, wind direction and wind stability. The output is an array suitable for input to ISCLT3. |
Model Code and Documentation |
| Executable, Source Code and Test Case (ZIP)(216 K) - Readme included. Latest Model Change Bulletin (TXT)(52 K, 1997) |
Accessory Programs
| Programs |
|---|
| BINTOASC |
| A program that converts meteorological data from binary format to ASCII format. It is used primarily to give convert meteorological data when using the deposition option in the ISCST3 model (and is located with the model). |
| METLIST |
| This program creates a listing file of specified meteorological data for a specified day or range of days, for QC or other purposes of inspection of a meteorological dataset. This program is used with the ISC3 model (and is located with the model). |
| WINDROSE |
| A program that produces wind frequency statistics for 16 directions (22.5 degree arcs) to generate a graphical wind rose for each wind sector. The program uses the TD-1440 meteorological data (raw SCRAM format) as input. |
| Model Code and Documentation |
| Executable and Test files (ZIP)(285 K) Latest Model Change Bulletin (TXT)(2 K, 1990) |
| WRPLOT (Wind Rose PLOT) |
| A program which computes wind rose statistics based on 10 degree wind increments. Unlike WINDROSE, WRPLOT can provide a graphical plot. Windrose uses the TD-1440 SCRAM meteorological data as input. |
| Model Code |
| Executable and test data (ZIP)(1.8 M) |
| Model Documentation |
| Tutorial (ZIP)(47 K) - Documentation, test data and readme. WRPLOT Demonstration (ZIP)(1.8 M) Tutorial Documentation (ZIP)(48 K) Instructions for WRPLOT Tutorial (TXT)(2 K) Latest Model Change Bulletin (TXT)(4 K, 1993) |
| Test Data Sets |
| 1984 Meteorological Data for RDU, NC (ZIP)(71 K) 1998 Meteorological Data for RDU, NC (ZIP)(70 K) 1986 Meteorological Data for RDU, NC (ZIP)(71 K) 1987 Meteorological Data for RDU, NC (ZIP)(70 K) 1988 Meteorological Data for RDU, NC (ZIP)(71 K) 1989 Meteorological Data for RDU, NC (ZIP)(71 K) |