Precipitation scavenging of atmospheric aerosols for emergency response applications: testing an updated model with new real-time data

Abstract

Precipitation scavenging can effectively remove particulates from the atmosphere. Interest in the phenomena waxed in the 1980s, but models developed at that time remain limited by the lack of both detailed, time-resolved wet deposition pattern measurements for model confirmation and real-time rain data for model execution. Recently, new rain products have become available that can revolutionize real-time use of precipitation scavenging models on the regional scale. We have utilized a 4-km, hourly resolution precipitation data set from the Arkansas Red-Basin River Forecast Center. A standard below-cloud aerosol scavenging model has been modified to incorporate the potentially larger scavenging in heavy rain events. This paper demonstrates the model on a sample rainfall data set. The simulations demonstrate the concentrating effect of rainfall, especially heavy rain, on deposition patterns. Wet deposition played an important role in the simulated fate and transport, removing as much as 70% of the released aerosol.