A Study of the Diffusion and Rise of Stack Plumes at Coastal Region by Using LIDAR Observation Data

  • Yoon, Ill-Hee (Department of Earth Science, Kyungpook National University)
  • Published : 1998.12.01

Abstract

The Kwinana Shoreline Fumigation Experiment (KSFE) took place at Fremantle, WA, Australia between January 23 and February 8, 1995. The CSIRO DAR LIDAR measured plume sections from near the Kwinana Power Station (KPS) stacks to up to about 5 km downstream. It also measured boundary layer aerosols and the structure of the boundary layer on some occasions. Both stages A and C of KPS were used as tracers at different times. The heart of the LIDAR system is a Neodymium-doped Yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser operating at a fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm, with harmonics of 532 nm and 355 nm. For these experiments the third harmonic was used because the UV wavelength at 355 nm is eye safe beyond about 50 m. The laser fires a pulse of light 6 ns in duration (about 1.8 m long) and with an energy (at the third harmonic) of about 70 mJ. This pulse subsequently scattered and absorbed by both air molecules and particles in the atmosphere. A small fraction of the laser beam is scattered back to the LIDAR, collected by a telescope and detected by a photo-multiplier tube. The intensity of the signal as a function of time is a measure of the particle concentration as a function of distance along the line of the laser shot. The smoke plume was clearly identifiable in the scans both before and after fumigation in the thermal internal boundary layer (TIBL). Both power station plumes were detected. Over the 9 days of operation, 1,568 plumes scans (214 series) were performed. Essentially all of these will provide instantaneous plume heights and widths, and there are many periods of continuous operation over several hours when it should be possible to compile hourly average plume statistics as well. The results of four days LIDAR observations of the dispersion of smoke plume in the TIBL at a coastal site are presented for the case of stages A and C.

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