Modeling and Simulation of Hazardous 

Material Releases for Homeland 

Security Applications

Charles McLean

Y. Tina Lee

Dr. Sanjay Jain

Dr. Charles Hutchings

NISTIR 7786
NISTIR 7786

Modeling and Simulation of 

Hazardous Material Releases for 

Homeland Security Applications

Charles McLean

Y. Tina Lee

Manufacturing Systems Integration Division

Engineering Laboratory

Dr. Sanjay Jain

George Washington University

Dr. Charles Hutchings

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

September 2011

U.S. Department of Commerce

Rebecca M. Blank, Acting Secretary

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Patrick D. Gallagher, Under Secretary for Standards and Technology and Director
ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate sponsored the 

production of this material under Interagency Agreements HSHQDC-09-X-00009 and HSHQDC-09-X00357 with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The work described was funded 

by the United States Government and is not subject to copyright.

DISCLAIMERS

The findings expressed or implied in this report do not necessarily reflect the official view or policy of the 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Commerce, or the United States 

Government.

Some software products may have been identified in context in this report. This does not imply a 

recommendation or endorsement of the software products by the authors or NIST, nor does it imply that 

such software products are necessarily the best available for the purpose. 

Comments or questions about this report may be e-mailed to: simresponse@cme.nist.gov.
iii

Contents

1. Purpose ..................................................................................................................................................1

2. Introduction to Hazardous Material Releases (HMR) and Associated DHS Guidance.........................2

3. Perspectives on Methodologies, Models, and Simulations....................................................................4

4. Needs Analysis Overview....................................................................................................................10

5. Requirements Specifications ...............................................................................................................11

5.1. Functional Requirements..............................................................................................................11

5.2. Data Requirements.......................................................................................................................12

5.3. User Interface Requirements........................................................................................................13

5.4. Performance Requirements ..........................................................................................................13

5.5. Verification, Validation, and Accreditation Requirements..........................................................13

6. Identification of M&S Resources........................................................................................................14

6.1. Projects, Facilities and Capabilities..............................................................................................14

6.2. Simulations, Models and Tools....................................................................................................16

6.3. Relevant Standards and Guidelines..............................................................................................23

6.3.1 Domain Specific Standards.........................................................................................................23

6.3.2 Conceptual Modeling Standards.................................................................................................34

6.3.3 Distributed Simulation Standards...............................................................................................35

6.3.4 Selected Geographic Information System (GIS) Standards........................................................36

6.3.5 Selected Communication Standards...........................................................................................41

6.4. Data Sources.................................................................................................................................43

7. Discussion and Recommendations......................................................................................................51

7.1. Best Practices ...............................................................................................................................52

7.2. Limitations, Cautions and Warnings............................................................................................52

7.3. Research, Development, Standards, and Implementation Issues .................................................53

8. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................53

9. References ...........................................................................................................................................54
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1

1. Purpose

Simulations of hazardous material releases attempt to model and evaluate the dispersion of various kinds 

of materials including chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological agents into the atmosphere, HVAC 

systems within buildings and other enclosed spaces, watershed systems, and the soil. Releases may be 

accidental (e.g., a ruptured tank car from a train derailment), intentional (e.g., a terrorist attack), or natural 

(e.g., a wildfire or volcanic eruption). Examples of release sources include nuclear power plant accidents, 

leaks or spills from tanks or industrial plants, use of chemical and biological sprayers, fires, smokestack 

emissions, nuclear detonation clouds, and other explosive blasts. The goal of this document is to capture 

the current knowledge and information resources that can serve as a common baseline for researchers and 

developers of models and simulations of hazardous material releases for homeland security applications. 

This initial version of the document attempts to assemble relevant, publicly available information from a 

number of sources within U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the modeling and 

simulation (M&S) communities. 

This document is intended to help initiate the discussion of the current leading research, development, 

standards, and implementation issues within the hazardous material release M&S community. The 

document will be updated based on the input of domain experts across government, research, and 

commercial organizations. These experts will be invited to join together in a workshop to review and 

extend this document. The workshop will focus on simulation and modeling activities and needs that 

support analysis, planning, and training for the hazardous material release as well as the integration of 

those M&S applications with those developed by other sectors. Issues to be addressed within the scope of 

this workshop include the establishment of consensus on: 

• identification of subject matter experts

• definition of customer and user needs

• system requirements specifications

• recommended/approved modeling techniques and approaches

• identification of data sources, reference data sets, formats, and standards

• identification of appropriate model evaluation and accreditation practices

The workshop will also help identify the current leading research, development, standards, and 

implementation issues. Such analysis by the workshop participants may be found to be relevant by future 

efforts for developing standards, conducting research and development, and enhancing implementation 

policies and procedures for homeland security applications of M&S to improve the protection of critical 

infrastructure systems.

This document provides a compendium of information that has been assembled that is relevant to the 

M&S of hazardous material releases (HMR). HMR, as defined by DHS, are introduced in Section 2. 

Section 3 provides a general background on methodologies, models, and simulations. An initial set of 

high level user and customer needs for M&S applications in the HMR domain is presented in Section 4. 

Section 5 translates the high level needs to a representative set of M&S system requirements (a more 

detailed specification is currently under development in a related effort). The existing HMR M&S 

resources and capabilities such as projects, tools, standards, and data sets that have been developed over 

the years to meet the needs and requirements are identified in Section 6. Section 7 presents a discussion 

of issues, concerns, and recommendations for advancing M&S for HMR emanating from a comparison of 

current resources and capabilities with the needs and requirements. Section 8 concludes the document 

while section 9 provides list of references used.
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Three additional documents have been prepared as a part of this effort. The other documents address 

M&S for critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR), incident management, and healthcare systems. 

To minimize redundancy between the documents, each document focuses on the M&S techniques that are 

most significant to the sectors mission and objectives. The CIKR document emphasizes modeling and 

simulation supporting analysis of systems (e.g., vulnerability, security), whereas the incident management 

document focuses more on training and exercises. The healthcare systems document addresses M&S for 

analysis, training, and exercises, but at a more detailed level than the previous two documents. The 

hazardous material release document focuses on the more physical aspects of M&S associated with 

explosions, fires, plumes, and the flow of hazardous materials in building ventilation systems, bodies of 

water, and the soil. The authors recognize that each of the sectors may employ all of the M&S techniques 

that have been identified in the other documents, but typically to a lesser extent.

The authors welcome identification of omissions as well as suggestions for improvements. Please contact 

the authors directly or submit comments or questions by e-mail to simresponse@cme.nist.gov.

2. Introduction to Hazardous Material Releases (HMR) and Associated DHS 

Guidance

Hazardous materials are substances which if released or misused can cause death, serious injury, long 

lasting health effects, and damage to structure and other properties as well as to the environment [GBRA 

2010]. Hazardous materials may be in solid, liquid or gaseous form and may be explosive, flammable, 

combustible, corrosive, reactive, poisonous, biological or radioactive. These material have to be properly 

contained in storage, use and transport, else their chemical, physical and biological properties may pose a 

potential risk to life, health, the environment, and property. In a hazardous materials incident, solid, 

liquid and/or gaseous contaminants may be released from fixed or mobile containers. Hazardous material 

incidents can range from an accident on highway resulting in a chemical spill to contamination of 

groundwater by naturally occurring methane gas.

There are numerous incidents of hazardous material releases (HMR) in United States every year. The 

releases may be airborne, or spills and discharges that contaminate water bodies, vegetation, soil, and 

built up structures. The airborne hazards are also identified as hazardous fumes, noxious chemicals, or 

mysterious odors. The airborne hazards affect areas and people outdoors but they may permeate 

buildings and affect people indoors. The hazardous material releases lead to areas and buildings being 

evacuated in a majority of cases. However, depending on the hazard, release pattern, weather conditions, 

and a number of other factors, it may be advisable to stay indoors, i.e., shelter in place.

Majority of the HMR incidents are results of accidental releases of toxic industrial or agricultural 

chemicals [AFCESA 2001]. Occasionally they may be releases of biological or radiological materials. 

Majority of releases happen during the course of regular operations at fixed facilities [KCOEM 2011], 

that is, due to industrial accidents (e.g., fire or equipment malfunction at chemical plants). Other causes 

of releases are transportation accidents (e.g., tanker collisions, train derailments, etc.), malicious acts 

(e.g., vandalism, terrorist attacks), and natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes, etc). A recent 

example of HMR due to a natural disaster is the release of radioactive plumes from a nuclear power plant 

affected by earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011.

The airborne HMR have drawn more attention due to their potential to negatively affect large areas. 

Some key parameters that are relevant to dispersion of atmospheric releases are the release location, 

release mechanism, agent chemical/material properties, weather conditions, and terrain and geography. 

M&S tools are important to analyze and predict the dispersion of such releases using inputs on these 

parameters based on reports, visual observations and sensors. The tools take into account the material 
3

released, the local topography, and meteorological and atmospheric data to determine the dispersion area 

and associated concentrations [NRC 2003, page 9]. The concentrations are then used to assess the risk to 

the population, environment and property in the affected areas. Incident management personnel use the 

results of these types of models and simulations to predict the impact of releases, allocate resources, and 

plan response operations, among other uses.

Management of large HMR incidents should be done following the template in the National Incident 

Management System (NIMS) [DHS 2008a] developed by U.S. Department of Homeland Security under 

the authority granted by the Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5, Management of 

Domestic Incidents. NIMS provides a national template for federal, state, tribal, and local governments, 

nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector to work together to prevent, protect 

against, respond to, recover from and mitigate the effects of incidents, regardless of cause, size, location, 

or complexity. It integrates best practices into a comprehensive framework for use nationwide by 

emergency management/response personnel. The HMR incident management should also utilize the 

National Response Framework (NRF) [DHS 2008b] that builds upon NIMS and describes additional 

specific Federal roles and structures for incidents in which Federal resources are involved. NIMS, 

together with NRF and other documents, provides the structure needed to coordinate, integrate, and 

synchronize activities derived from various relevant statutes, national strategies, and Presidential directives to create a unified national approach to implementing the incident management mission (see Figure 

1). 

Figure 1: National Framework for Homeland Security (from [DHS 2009])
4

HMR is one of hazards included in the all-hazard context that NIMS addresses. NIMS identifies a 

specific resource category, hazardous material response, for national resource typing to facilitate resource 

management for HMR incidents. It also calls for utilizing personnel with special skills for HMR 

incidents in the unified command. Similarly, it calls for the planning section to include a distinct 

Technical Unit to coordinate and manage large volumes of environmental samples or analytical data from 

multiple sources in the context of certain complex incidents, particularly those involving biological, 

chemical, or radiological hazards. Technical specialists assigned to the Environmental Unit may include 

a scientific support coordinator as well as technicians proficient in response technologies, weather 

forecast, resources at risk, sampling, cleanup assessment, and disposal.

The NRF includes 15 emergency support functions (ESFs) to align categories of resources and provide 

strategic objectives for their use. The ESFs are called up as needed by the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate response support from across the federal government and 

NGOs. The ESF#10 is devoted to oil and hazardous material response and provides federal support in 

response to an actual or potential discharge and/or uncontrolled release of oil or hazardous materials when 

activated. The ESF describes the role of different federal agencies in responding to HMR incidents. It 

calls for use of the Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC) under U.S. 

Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) when needed for 

operational weather data and forecasts tailored to support the response. 

The NRF also provides Incident Annexes that describe the concept of operations to address specific 

contingency or hazard situations. There are two annexes relevant to HMR, biological and 

nuclear/radiological incident annexes. The nuclear/radiological incident annex identifies Department of 

Energy’s National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) as a key resource that may be 

activated. NARAC provides a computer-based emergency preparedness and response predictive 

modeling capability. NARAC utilizes M&S to provide real-time computer predictions of the atmospheric 

transport of material from radioactive releases and of the downwind effects on health and safety. The 

annex also calls for IMAAC to generate the single and interagency coordinated Federal prediction of 

atmospheric dispersions and their consequences. IMAAC and NARAC functions are currently served by

a single unit based at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. In addition, 

Department of Commerce responsibilities in the annex include providing atmospheric transport and 

dispersion (plume) modeling assessment and forecasts to the coordinating agency when IMAAC is not 

activated, and maintaining and further developing the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model.

3. Perspectives on Methodologies, Models, and Simulations

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1996, defines Methodology as “a body of methods used in 

a particular activity.” Methodology is principles of method, and such principles can be used to study and 

inform problem solving and decision-making. [Checkland 2000] describes a useful model linking 

methodology and the user of a methodology to problem solving: 

‘A problem-solving situation with three elements:

• A user of methodology (this assumes that the user is familiar with the methodology)

• Methodology as documented

• Situation as perceived by the user

Relationship and interactions between the three elements are encapsulated in the LUMAS model 

(Learning, User of methodology, Methodology formally described, Actual approach adopted, and 

real world problem Situation) shown in figure 2. A simple example narrative for the diagram 

may be: A user, U, appreciating a methodology, M, as a coherent set of principles and 

perceiving a problem situation, S, asks, “what can I do?” The User then tailors from M a specific 
5

approach, A, judged to be appropriate for S, and uses it in an attempt to improve the situation. 

This generates learning, L, which may change the user, U or the methodology, M.

A methodology is, then, a logical framework that not only brings forth learning for an individual, 

but does so in a consistent and systemic manner so learnings can be shared and passed on.’

Yields

Perceives,

Has a concern for

Tailors “M” to “S” yielding

Used to Guide Inquiry 

and Action in

Modifies, Enriches 

Appreciation of

Changes

Appreciates

Actual Approach 

Adopted

(Situation or User 

Specific)

A

Real World Problem 

Situation

S User of Methodology

U

New Problem Situation

“Improved”

Methodology 

Formally 

Described

M

Learning

L

Yields

Becomes 

Becomes 

Figure 2: The LUMAS Model (from [Checkland 2000])

Another perspective on methodology comes from the International Council on Systems Engineering 

(INCOSE) where methodology is defined as “a collection of related processes, methods and tools” 

[INCOSE 2008]. This is based on definitions from [Martin 1996]:

‘Methodology can be differentiated from other related concepts using the following definitions 

from [Martin 1996]:

• A Process (P) is a logical sequence of tasks performed to achieve a particular objective. A 

process defines “WHAT” is to be done, without specifying “HOW” each task is performed. 

The structure of a process provides several levels of aggregation to allow analysis and 

definition to be done at various levels of detail to support different decision-making needs.

• A Method (M) consists of techniques for performing a task, in other words, it defines the 

“HOW” of each task. (In this context, the words: “method,” “technique,” “practice,” and 

“procedure” are often used interchangeably.) At any level, process tasks are performed 

using methods. However, each method is also a process itself, with a sequence of tasks to be 

performed for that particular method. In other words, the “HOW” at one level of abstraction 

becomes the “WHAT” at the next lower level.

• A Tool (T) is an instrument that, when applied to a particular method, can enhance the 

efficiency of the task; provided it is applied properly and by somebody with proper skills and 

training. The purpose of a tool should be to facilitate the accomplishment of the “HOWs.” In 

a broader sense, a tool enhances the “WHAT” and the “HOW.” Most tools used to support 
6

systems engineering are computer- or software-based, and are also known as Computer 

Aided Engineering (CAE) tools.

Closely associated with methodology is an Environment (E) that consists of the surroundings, the 

external objects, conditions, or factors that influence the actions of an object, individual person 

or group [Martin 1996]. These conditions can be social, cultural, personal, physical, 

organizational, or functional. The purpose of a project environment should be to integrate and 

support the use of the tools and methods used on that project. An environment thus enables (or 

disables) the “WHAT” and the “HOW”.’

The interrelationship of processes, methods, tools, and environments is graphically represented in Figure 

3.

Figure 3: The Process, Methods, Tools, Environments Elements, and Effects of Technology and 

People (from [INCOSE 2008])

“Model” and “simulation” can be defined or classified in many ways. For example, the DHS Lexicon 

[DHS 2010] includes the following definitions: 

• Model: approximation, representation, or idealization of selected aspects of the structure, behavior, 

operation, or other characteristics of a real-world process, concept, or system. 

• Simulation: model that behaves or operates like a given process, concept, or system when provided a 

set of controlled inputs. 

In addition, Department of Defense glossary [DoD 2010] provides the following definition.

• Modeling & Simulation: Modeling and Simulation (M&S): The discipline that comprises the 

development and/or use of models and simulations. M&S is highly dependent upon Information 

Technology as defined in DoD Directive 4630.05, Interoperability and Supportability of Information 

Technology (IT) and National Security Systems (NSS), May 5, 2004. 

a. The use of models, including emulators, prototypes, simulators, and stimulators, either statically or 

over time, to develop data as a basis for making managerial or technical decisions. The terms 

"modeling" and "simulation" are often used interchangeably, but simulations generally execute 

models over time, space, events, or other processes.
7

The focus of this document is on computer models and simulations – computer implemented physical, 

mathematical, process, phenomenological or other types of models. One perspective on the way in 

which computer models and simulations support methodology is modeled in Figure 4 (M in the LUMAS 

Model). 

Modeling

Behavioral 

Structural

Mathematical 

Modeling

Data 

Modeling

Computer Modeling

and Simulation 

Conceptual (language, images)

State Charts

Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) 

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL)

Finite Element Model (FEM)

Finite Volume Model (FVM)

System Environment Models

Parametric/Empirical Models

Uncertainty Models

Differential Equation Specified Systems (DESS)

Stochastic Models

Logic Models

Linear Programs

Discrete Event System Specification

Discrete Time System Specification

Agent-Based Models

Cellular Automata

Neural Networks

Object-Oriented Models

Mock-up/Prototype

Scale Models; e.g., ships, airplanes

Maps

General 

Knowledge

(Epistemology)

METHODOLOGY

M

Examples of 

Methodologies:

• Policy Analysis

• Operations 

Research

• Systems 

Engineering

• Experimentation

• Statistics

• Test and 

Evaluation

• Computer 

Modeling 

 and 

 Simulation

Figure 4: Modeling in methodology

Models can broadly be divided into structural and behavior representations of systems, which could 

include mathematical or empirical modeling. Each of these types of models can be implemented using 

computer models for simulation and used to study questions of interest about a particular system. Various 

examples of model types are shown. This list of model types is not complete or exhaustive, but is meant 

to show typical applications of M&S that support methodologies such as operations research, systems 

engineering, experimentation, or other types of analysis.

Although M&S capabilities are tools in many different methodologies, M&S using computers is itself a 

methodology with supporting processes, methods and tools. Figure 5 illustrates a simplified, generic 

process for development of computational M&S capabilities to address a non-trivial engineering or 

scientific problem from the perspective of an M&S developer. The process shown in Figure 5 also maps 

to the LUMAS model as shown in the figure. This process is also applicable to simpler problems where 

trivial steps may be combined. Also, the M&S developer may be the problem solver and consumer of the 

M&S results such as an engineer addressing a systems design question or a program manager doing a 

“what if’ analysis to assess the risk to a program.

The first step in the process includes the model or code developer (U) developing a clear understanding of 

what problem situation (S) the consumer of the M&S results is trying to address. A conceptual model of 

the system or problem serves as a framework in developing and implementing the appropriate computer 
8

modeling capability (A) using the M&S methodology (M) to address the question at hand. With a clear 

conceptual model in mind, developers have a number of choices to make in generating results:

Grounds

Uses

Includes

Informs

Computer Model/

Simulation A

Problem at Hand / 

System S

Model Developer

U

M&S Results

M&S 

Methodology

M

Consumer of Results

Observations and 

Data Conceptual Model

Evaluation Process

(VV&A)

L

Uses

Supports

Supports

Creates 

Produces

Enhances

Address Checks

Data from 

Existing 

Systems

Interprets

Grounds

Creates

Evaluates

Specify Intended

Use to Address

Inform 

Accredit 

Grounds 

Guides Development and Use of

Needs

Figure 5: Computer Modeling and Simulation – Developer’s Perspective

• What data, knowledge, theories, or models are available or applicable to address the problem at hand?

• Is the data, knowledge, or understanding sufficient in both quality and quantity to address the problem 

at hand, or will additional data or observations be required to support development?

• What is the risk of using erroneous results, e.g., will these results be the only input to a decision, or 

will other sources of information be available to support decision making?

• How can the conceptual model be expressed mathematically or physically?

• What boundary and initial condition should be used?

• What modeling paradigm or approach would be most appropriate to implement the analysis?

• Given the developers’ experience, what particular codes or capabilities would be most suitable for 

implementing the model, considering software, hardware, and other constraints and limitations?

• Given the code or computer capability has been developed, have any mistakes or errors been made in 

completing this or in entering the data?

• Given there are no mistakes or errors found in developing the capability or entering the data, are the 

results realistic, and do they make sense?

• What approach should be used to ensure that the results are correct?

• How do uncertainties and approximations affect the computational results?

• Given that everything else is correct, are the results suitable to address the problem at hand?

• How should the results and associated uncertainty be present for use in decision making?
9

M&S capabilities are used to model only selected aspects of a system and the models are implemented in 

a computing environment; therefore, the models need to be critically evaluated to ensure that the results 

are credible for their specific intended use, and this is typically done using an evaluation process (L) 

which is included in the M&S methodology (M) and informs the model developer (U) of the quality of 

the M&S capability and results in addressing the problem at hand (S).

Evaluation of M&S capabilities and results should take into account the many factors that affect the 

quality of the results including the level of understanding or knowledge of the issues being addressed and 

the experience level of model developers. Several organizations have developed processes and guidelines 

to address the credibility of M&S capabilities. For example, DoD has a process for documentation, 

evaluation, and certification of M&S results known as Verification, Validation and Accreditation 

(VV&A) that is defined in a recommended practice guide [DoD 2006]. The DoD process is implemented 

in policy, which develops a common understanding of the major steps in the VV&A process defined as 

below [DoD 2009]:

• Verification. The process of determining that a model implementation and its associated data 

accurately represents the developer’s conceptual description and specifications. 

• Validation. The process of determining the degree to which a model and its associated data are an 

accurate representation of the real world from the perspective of the intended uses of the model. 

• Accreditation. The official certification that a model, simulation, or federation of models and 

simulations and its associated data are acceptable for use for a specific purpose.

All M&S capabilities should complete verification and validation (V&V). M&S capabilities used as the 

primary input to critical decision making, e.g., on cost, schedule, or performance of the system, should be 

formally accredited to certify that the results are credible for their intended use. Analysts and decisionmakers need to be aware of these sorts of issues when presented with computational modeling and 

simulation results.

[Balci 1998] developed a taxonomy and describes the use of different methods to evaluate M&S 

capabilities and results based on software testing approaches. Figure 6 identifies these verification, 

validation, and testing methods or techniques which can be used to support an evaluation process such as 

VV&A. 

In addition to the use of recommended practices for conceptual modeling and ensuring model credibility, 

model developers should employ recommended practices for a number of other aspects. [Jain 2011] 

recommends best practices for modeling, simulation, and analysis for homeland security applications for 

the following aspects:

1. conceptual modeling 

2. innovative approaches 

3. software engineering 

4. model confidence/ verification, validation and accreditation (VV&A) 

5. use of standards 

6. interoperability 

7. execution performance 

8. user friendliness and accessibility 
10

Figure 6: Taxonomy of Verification, Validation, and Testing Techniques (from [Balci 1998])

4. Needs Analysis Overview

Emergency planners, first responders, and training personnel need simulations to support exercises, drills, 

emergencies, tests, alerts, real world incidents, and planning for national security events. When a 

hazardous atmospheric release occurs officials want to know – What is the hazard? Where is it going? 

Who is at risk? How do we respond? Simulation results may be used to help officials to:

a) Provide real-time access and automated reach-back to plume modeling capabilities with the 

incorporation of real-time weather data.

b) Establish situational awareness of current/forecast plume transport direction and hazard areas.
11

c) Support contingency planning, damage assessment, development of response strategies, and 

consequence management as well as the development of protective action guides/recommendations to 

deal with the short and long term health and other adverse effects of a hazardous release.

d) Estimate potential damages, casualties, illnesses, fatalities.

e) Estimate emergency assistance requirements.

f) Project areas where buildings, land, agricultural crops, bodies of water, and other man-made or 

natural resources are or will be contaminated.

g) Select locations for incident command sites, decontamination facilities, sheltering, and evacuation 

areas.

h) Determine emergency response and health services facilities impacted by the release.

i) Make shelter-in-place, evacuation, and personal protective equipment use decisions.

j) Identify safe approach and evacuation routes.

k) Guide field measurement and aerial sampling teams.

l) Determine radiological monitoring requirements.

m) Estimate the source amounts and locations of unknown releases.

n) Obtain information for communications with the public to allay concerns.

o) Support post-event analysis for exercises and actual incidents.

Both forward and reverse simulations are needed. Forward simulations predict the spread of a cloud of 

materials from a known release. Reverse simulations may be used to predict probable source locations 

and quantities of agent released based on sensor data. The source location, weather, quantity and types of 

chemicals involved may affect the dispersion of materials.

Inputs to simulation models may include the characteristics of the agent released, release mechanism 

used, the location of release point, terrain and structures around the release point, and weather conditions. 

Inputs may alternately be based on the sensor readings over time in the area of interest indicating the 

presence of an agent and the direction(s) of the spreading plume. 

Outputs may include time profile of the plume, affected areas and populations, and the exposure profile 

for the population in the region affected by the plume over time.

5. Requirements Specifications

This section provides a high level list of requirements for hazardous material release model 

implementations. Requirement specifications are categorized into five major areas:

• Functional requirements (Section 5.1)

• Data requirements (Section 5.2)

• User interface requirements (Section 5.3)

• Performance requirements (Section 5.4)

• Verification, validation, and accreditation requirements (Section 5.5)

A specific system implementation may contain only a subset of these requirements as determined by 

program management and/or the customers and users.

5.1. Functional Requirements

This section identifies functions that may be included in hazardous material release models and 

simulations.
12

a) Predict the initial direction, travel, and dispersion of a plume over time from a single or multiple 

sources taking into account the type of source, material/chemical properties, release location, weather 

conditions, terrain, urban areas, and other man-made structures.

b) Predict the concentration of the chemical or biological agent within the plume and flow through 

drainage areas over time.

c) Estimate deposition and contamination levels for air, water, ground, and building surfaces.

d) Identify exposed population and predict exposure levels over time.

e) Identify the time when the sensors placed in the area of interest will be triggered following the release 

of the plume.

f) Provide for reverse simulations to estimate unknown source amounts, probable release locations, and 

support event reconstruction.

g) Provide capabilities to refine simulations based on field measurements and other sensor data.

h) Support a number of different established problems, models, representations, and techniques 

including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) source 

characterizations, Gaussian-plumes, dense gas dispersion physics, boundary layer meteorology, 

atmospheric turbulence, urban flow and dispersion, high altitude dispersion, time integrated dosages, 

inverse modeling and event reconstruction.

i) Automate the utilization of sensor field measurements to estimate source terms and optimize 

predictions.

j) Couple sensor data and simulations via Bayesian inference, stochastic sampling, and optimization 

methods.

k) Perform backwards analyses to determine probabilistic distribution of unknown source 

characteristics.

l) Generate optimal and probabilistic forward plume model predictions.

m) Use Markov chain sampling to determine probabilistic source locations based on sensor readings, 

Green’s function methodology (heat conduction and diffusion), fate and transport models.

n) Provide source characterization models for explosive dispersal devices that predict airborne fractions 

and particle-size distribution.

o) Provide fast-running empirical urban models and high-resolution building-scale computational fluid 

dynamics models use finite element modeling (FEM) techniques.

p) Support vector and raster representations of geography, buildings, and other structures.

q) Support a range of different grid resolutions, e.g., 30 meter, 100 meter, 1 kilometer, 10 kilometer.

r) Model indoor exposure levels due to the effects of building leakiness, i.e., outdoor plume air 

concentration versus corresponding indoor air concentration.

s) Support the integration and/or distributed execution of interrelated models including dispersion, 

weather, exposure and hazard effects, watershed flows.

t) Support various release mechanisms including explosions, fires, volcanic eruptions, gas cylinders, 

sprayers, manual methods, tank ruptures, and building collapses.

u) Support micro and meso-scale forecasts (10 km).

v) Model radiation effects including fallout, wet deposition hotspots, ground shine, cloud shine, and 

inhalation doses.

w) Identify regions where the exposed population will experience life threatening, serious long-lasting, 

or notable discomfort effects.

5.2. Data Requirements

This section identifies input and output data types that may be supported for hazardous material release 

models and simulations.

a) Meteorological data: observed and forecast weather conditions that may affect a plume including 

wind speed, direction, and precipitation
13

b) Plume release mechanisms and their attributes: explosions, fires, compressed gas cylinders, tank 

ruptures, and manual release of powders

c) Specifications of characteristics of an explosive release: detonation point, explosive source 

characteristics (particle size distribution and spatial distribution of mass from surface to several 

hundred meters above ground)

d) Hazardous agent characteristics including form (gas, liquid, or powder), chemical properties, particle 

size and weight distributions, cohesion, and lethality

e) Specification of the incident area including location of source, terrain, and buildings

f) Demographics data – population location, density, and attributes by time of day

5.3. User Interface Requirements

This section identifies user interface capabilities that may be supported for hazardous material release 

models and simulations.

a) Provide capabilities to configure simulation runs with specific release incident parameters, weather 

conditions, and geographic regions.

b) Provide a capability for modifying of key release parameters including location of source, agent 

characteristics, and location of sensors.

c) Generate graphical views of plume dispersion over a 2D or 3D representation of area of interest.

d) Provide user control mechanisms that effect rapid execution/playback of simulation runs to move 

forward and back to desired points in time.

e) Use various representation schemes to display release effects including chemical concentration, 

radiation intensity, toxicity, lethality, and exposure levels, e.g., colors, shading, contour lines.

f) Provide interfaces to generate still image and video files that can be used to transfer results for 

viewing or playback using other software tools.

5.4. Performance Requirements

This section identifies possible performance considerations for hazardous material release models and 

simulations.

a) Support fast running local models that generate predictions in 5-15 minutes.

b) Provide for updates from real time meteorological databases and observations.

c) Share model predictions with other software applications, e.g., incident management applications.

5.5. Verification, Validation, and Accreditation Requirements

This section identifies approaches that may be used to verify, validate, and/or accredit hazardous material 

release models and simulations.

a) Use the release and monitoring of harmless/inert tracer chemicals to validate models.

b) Use of validated dispersion models as component modules in other systems.

c) Validate new models by comparison of model predictions against historical release data.
14

6. Identification of M&S Resources

This section identifies existing M&S resources that support HMR response and are possibly relevant to 

meeting some of the needs and requirements presented in sections 4 and 5. Resources that primarily 

support other M&S areas or domains, e.g., critical infrastructure, are not included. Topics addressed 

include:

• Projects, facilities and capabilities (Section 6.1)

• Simulation models and tools (Section 6.2)

• Relevant standards and Guidelines (Section 6.3)

• Data sources (Section 6.4)

6.1. Projects, Facilities and Capabilities

This section identifies projects, facilities, and other capabilities that currently exist that are working on 

modeling and simulation of hazardous material releases.

National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) – provides tools and services to the Federal 

Government that map the probable spread of hazardous material accidentally or intentionally released into 

the atmosphere. NARAC provides atmospheric plume predictions in time for an emergency manager to 

decide if taking protective action is necessary to protect the health and safety of people in affected areas. 

Located at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NARAC is a 

national support and resource center for planning, real-time assessment, emergency response, and detailed 

studies of incidents involving a wide variety of hazards, including nuclear, radiological, chemical, 

biological, and natural emissions [NARAC 2010a].

BioWatch Indoor Reachback Center (BIRC), Sandia National Laboratory – BIRC’s role is to provide 

scientific modeling support to decision-makers responding to a public release of a biohazard agent. BIRC 

is prepared to deliver information to decision-makers (typically, the emergency response personnel at 

high-traffic transportation facilities) within two hours of notification of a biohazard release. The 

information includes important issues such the size and location of the release and recommendations as to 

where sampling efforts should be focused. BIRC can also offer insight into whether the release is merely 

environmental in nature, or intentional, for example a terrorist attack. BIRC is part of the Department of 

Homeland Security’s BioWatch program, an early warning system designed to rapidly detect trace 

amounts of biological materials at various public facilities across the United States. BioWatch assists 

public health experts to determine the presence and geographic extent of a biological agent release, 

allowing federal, state, and local officials to more quickly determine emergency response, medical care, 

and consequence management needs [Sandia 2008].

Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC)- FRMAC is one of the emergency 

response resources, or assets, administered by NNSA. The Federal government maintains an extensive 

response capability for radiological monitoring and assessment. In the unlikely event of a major 

radiological incident, the full resources of the U.S. government will be coordinated to support state, local, 

and tribal governments. The FRMAC mission is to coordinate and manage all Federal radiological 

monitoring and assessment activities during major radiological emergencies within the United States in 

support of state, local, and tribal governments through the Lead Federal Agency [NNSA 2010].

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Exposure Research Lab (NERL) – located in Research 

Triangle Park, North Carolina, provides scientific understanding, information and assessment tools to 

reduce and quantify the uncertainty in the Agency’s exposure and risk assessments for all environmental 
15

stressors [EPA 2010a]. The Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division provides numerical and 

physical modeling support to the homeland security mission in protecting against the environmental and 

health effects of terrorist acts. This involves numerical modeling complemented by physical modeling in 

the Division’s wind tunnel. For example, a 1:600 scale model of lower Manhattan was built and the 

dispersion of material from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers was studied under various 

meteorological conditions. Also, dispersion of airborne material around the Pentagon was simulated in the 

wind tunnel.

Indoor Environment Department Facilities and Instrumentation, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

– The department has a number of facilities for indoor environment research under controlled conditions. 

The Stainless Steel Environmental Chamber is designed for investigations of emissions of pollutants from 

indoor sources under very low background pollutant conditions and other related research. The Dual 

Chamber Facility is constructed of conventional indoor materials to more closely simulate rooms in a 

building, e.g., with painted wallboard. The Indoor Dispersion Experimental Facility is equipped for 

studies of air and pollution transport and dispersion in large indoor spaces, and evaluation of 

computational fluid dynamics simulations using advanced experimental techniques. Ventilation Research 

Laboratories are used to develop and evaluate tracer gas analytical methods, to calibrate tracer gas 

instrumentation, and to assemble gas samplers and other instruments. The duct research laboratory is for 

research on building duct systems with respect to energy losses and indoor air quality [LBNL 2010a].

Joint Ambient Breeze Tunnel (JABT), West Desert Test Center, Dugway Proving Grounds, U.S. Army - 

The tunnel can be used for physically testing the behavior of different challenge materials, interferents, 

and obscurants. The facility is 530 ft long, 42 ft. wide and 58 ft high and rests on a 15-cm (6-in) thick, 

steel-reinforced concrete pad. An inner movable ceiling provides flexibility in size and allows the 

operator to tailor challenges enabling prudent use of chemical and biological agent stimulants. Sensors are 

strategically located in areas where they will not interfere with cloud movement or standoff detector line 

of sight. Referee/control and monitoring instruments are housed in the test control room annex near the 

middle of the JABT. Variable-speed blowers move the cloud through the test section at speeds ranging 

from 0.2 to 6.0 meters per second (0.4 to 12 mph). Clouds may be as long as 100 meters (328 ft) while 

moving through the test section at the desired concentration [DPG 2010].

Wind Engineering and Fluids Laboratory (WEFL), Colorado State University – The lab focuses on 

determination and mitigation of wind effects on buildings and structures, dispersion of pollutants, and 

experiments using boundary-layer wind tunnels. The core of the WEFL is three large boundary-layer 

wind tunnels. Research is carried out in cooperation with faculty and students from various departments 

at Colorado State University and other institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Staff of the WEFL also is 

involved in wind engineering service. Facilities and technical personnel are available to researchers and 

practitioners not affiliated with the WEFL [ColoState 2008].

Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC), Oak Ridge National Laboratory – The 

RSICC is a Department of Energy Specialized Information Analysis Center (SIAC) authorized to collect, 

analyze, maintain, and distribute computer software and data sets in the areas of radiation transport and 

safety [ORNL 2010a]. RSICC staff tests each code before its release, documents and resolves difficulties 

or problem areas, and assists users with their questions. Problems and issues that are unresolved will be 

made available to code developers to promote the improvements in new code releases. RSICC maintains a 

database of issues and fixes for code installation, verification, and use. New versions of codes sent to 

customers are ‘recycled’ to RSICC for further dissemination, thereby increasing the value-added of codes 

in a cost efficient manner.

Research Applications Laboratory (RAL), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) – National 

Security Applications Program at RAL has grown to include a combination of DOD, foreign, and private–
16

industry projects. RAL’s objective is to improve meteorological support of homeland security needs 

through the use of new capabilities in high–resolution mesoscale modeling, short–term thunderstorm 

prediction, multi–dimensional integrated displays, numerical weather prediction and fine–scale regional 

and global climatology prediction. New technologies are in operational use at U.S. Army Test and 

Evaluation Command’s (ATEC’s) ranges and are being implemented in Washington, DC at the Pentagon, 

originally sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and later adopted by 

the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA). The projects involving modeling plumes of hazardous 

materials include: sensor data fusion, Salt Lake City Olympics, Urban Shield, Joint Urban 2003, and 

bioaerosol study [UCAR 2010].

6.2. Simulations, Models and Tools

A large number of dispersion modeling tools exist across a number of federal agencies, universities, 

research organizations, and commercial companies. A survey [Mazzola 1995] in the mid-90s listed 94 

such tools while another survey [OFCM 2010a] in the late 90s listed 63 of them. This section lists some 

of the better-known tools as indicated by Internet searches. The tools are arranged alphabetically based on 

their acronyms.
17

Tool Acronym Brief Description

A2C A2C integrates mesoscale modeling and computational fluid dynamics modeling 

(CFD) into a single model. It can be used to model: airflows over complex terrain, 

airflows around buildings with diurnal variations of weather conditions, recirculation 

flow, separation streamline, and reattachment points on a building, and transport and 

diffusion of airborne particles and pollutants [YSASoft 2010].

ADAM Air Force Dispersion Assessment Model (ADAM) is a modified box and Gaussian 

dispersion model which incorporates thermodynamics, chemistry, heat transfer, 

aerosol loading, and dense gas effects. Release scenarios include continuous and 

instantaneous area and point, pressurized and unpressurized, and liquid/vapor/twophased options [EPA 2010c].

ADMS-Fire ADMS-Fire is a model of dispersion and deposition from fires. It uses the ADMS 

(Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling System) dispersion model coupled with a fire 

source model to predict dispersion and deposition of contaminants. The types of 

incidents modeled by ADMS-Fire are tire and other scrap fires on open sites. The 

contaminants of concern are those that could potentially have a food safety impact, 

namely PAHs, dioxins/furans and heavy metals. It can calculate the dispersion and 

deposition of these or any other contaminants for which emission data are available 

[CERC 2010].

ADMSSTAR ADMSSTAR is a model for the analysis of Short-Term Accidental Releases based on 

the ADMS methodology, developed specifically to estimate air concentration and 

deposition rate for radiological or chemical emissions to the atmosphere. It can be 

used either in situations where the source details are known or it can perform a back 

calculation and estimate the source strength based on sample data. ADMSSTAR may 

be linked with ESRI’s ArcGIS (Geographical Information System) and used to 

display contours of concentration and/or deposition overlaid on a map of the area 

where the incident occurred [CERC 2010].

AFTOX AFTOX is a Gaussian dispersion model that will handle continuous or instantaneous 

liquid, gas, elevated or surface releases from point or area sources. Output consists of 

concentration contour plots, concentration at a specified location, and maximum 

concentration at a given elevation and time [EPA 2010c].

ALOHA Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres (ALOHA) is an atmospheric dispersion 

model used for evaluating releases of hazardous chemical vapors. ALOHA allows the 

user to estimate the downwind dispersion of a chemical cloud based on the 

toxicological/physical characteristics of the released chemical, atmospheric 

conditions, and specific circumstances of the release. It is part of EPA’s ComputerAided Management of Emergency Operations (CAMEO) suite of tools [EPA 2010b].

AMET The Atmospheric Model Evaluation Tool (AMET) was developed to aid in the 

evaluation of meteorological and air quality simulations [EPA 2010a]. AMET utilizes 

an open source relational database program and an open source statistical program to 

store and analyze model predictions against observations. AMET is currently script 

based, and includes numerous scripts for performing common analysis such as scatter 

plots, box plots, spatial and time series plots, and output of many different statistics. 

AMET is available for download from the Community Modeling and Analysis 
18

System website [CMAS 2010].

ASPEN The Assessment System for Population Exposure Nationwide (ASPEN) consists of a

dispersion and a mapping module. The dispersion module is a Gaussian formulation 

based on ISCST3 for estimating ambient annual average concentrations at a set of 

fixed receptors within the vicinity of the emission source. The mapping module 

produces a concentration at each census tract. Input data needed are emissions data, 

meteorological data and census tract data [EPA 2010c].

BERT The Bio-agent Event Reconstruction Tool (BERT) is used to estimate the magnitude 

and extent of an airborne biological release based on measurements from wind 

sensors and biological agent sensors distributed around a city. BERT is used to find 

potential release areas and eliminate others, and if possible to put upper and lower 

limits on the amount of material that could have been released. The tool can then be 

used to predict the potential downwind hazard areas, to compute the total number of 

persons at risk, and to locate hospitals, school, police stations, fire stations and other 

infrastructure that might be impacted by the release [Zajic 2010].

BioDAC BioDAC (an abbreviation for the Weapons of Mass Destruction Decision Analysis 

Center [WMD-DAC] Biological Defense Application) is a component of the WMDDAC suite of simulation components. BioDAC is used to simulate the release of 

biological agents and evaluate the efficacy of a large set of response strategies. Three 

primary roles exist in a BioDAC simulation—Public Health Official (PHO), Navy 

Official (NO), and Analyst. BioDAC is designed for use in simulator-based exercises 

involving officials from various interested military and governmental agencies 

[Linebarger 2007].

BROOM Building Restoration Operations Optimization Model (BROOM) is a handheld, 

software-based restoration and decontamination tool that contains building maps and 

other information to simplify tracking and sample collection in a contaminated area. 

Surface sampling results transmitted to Sandia’s BIRC (see section 6.1) can be input 

into BROOM, an approach that leads to more accurate contamination maps and more 

certain predictions [Sandia 2008].

CFAST The Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport, CFAST, is a computer 

program that fire investigators, safety officials, engineers, architects and builders can 

use to simulate the impact of past or potential fires and smoke in a specific building 

environment. CFAST is a two-zone fire model used to calculate the evolving 

distribution of smoke, fire gases, and temperature throughout compartments of a 

building during a fire. These can range from very small containment vessels, on the 

order of 1 m3 to large spaces on the order of 1000 m3

. A visualization program, 

Smokeview (SMV), is available to display the output of CFAST simulations [NIST 

2009].

COAMPS The Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) can be 

used for short-term numerical weather prediction for various regions. The 

atmospheric portion of COAMPS represents a complete three-dimensional data 

assimilation system comprised of data quality control, analysis, initialization, and 

forecast model components. Features include a globally relocatable grid, user-defined 

grid resolutions and dimensions, nested grids, an option for idealized or real-time 
19

simulations, and code that allows for portability between mainframes and 

workstations. Model applications include dust forecast, cloud and fog forecast, landsurface and urban effects, and chemical/biological agent transport and dispersion 

[NRL 2010a].

COMIS Conjunction Of Multizone Infiltration Specialists (COMIS) models the air flow and 

contaminant distributions in buildings. The program can simulate several key 

components influencing air flow: cracks, ducts, duct fittings, fans, flow controllers, 

vertical large openings (windows and/or doors), kitchen hoods, passive stacks, and 

“user-defined components.” COMIS allows the user to define schedules describing 

changes in the indoor temperature distribution, fan operation, pollutant concentration 

in the zones, pollutant sources and sinks, opening of windows and doors, and the 

weather data. The flexible time step implemented in COMIS enables the modeling of 

events independent of the frequency with which the weather data are provided [LBNL 

2010b].

COMIS 

Integrated 

Models

COMIS has been integrated with outdoor and other indoor modeling tools and 

techniques [LBNL 2010c]. These include:

• Residential models in NARAC – Combines NARAC’s models for outdoor plumes 

with “box” model of houses to predict indoor-outdoor exchange.

• COMIS in HPAC – Combines HPAC for outdoor plumes with COMIS to 

determine indoor exposure to outdoor plumes.

• Building Interior and Exfiltration (BINEX) – includes two models for building 

airflow, COMIS ported by LBNL to HPAC, and an interior model from Science 

Applications International Corporation (SAIC).

• CFD in COMIS – combines COMIS with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) 

capability to study exposure in large, poorly mixed spaces such as auditoriums or 

conference halls.

CONTAM CONTAM is a multi-zone indoor air quality and ventilation analysis computer 

program designed to help determine airflows, contaminant concentrations, and 

personal exposure. Predicted contaminant concentrations can also be used to estimate 

personal exposure based on occupancy patterns in the building being studied. 

Exposure estimates can be compared for different assumptions of ventilation rates and 

source strengths [NIST 2008].

CT-Analyst The Contaminant Transport Analyst, or CT-Analyst is an instant-response software 

tool developed at the Naval Research Laboratory that can help cities respond quickly 

and efficiently to the release of a chemical, biological, or radioactive threat. It 

combines detailed 3D modeling of the city with an understanding of how airflow 

carries contaminants through its streets and provides first responders with the 

information they need to make effective decisions [NRL 2010b].

EPIcode The Emergency Prediction Information code is a commercially available computer 

code for modeling routine or accidental releases of hazardous chemicals to the 

environment. It is reported to be routinely used for NEPA calculations within the 

Department of Energy system, as well as emergency response centers. It is a 

commercial product from Homann Associates, Inc. [EPIcode 2010].
20

FDS Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of 

fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a form of the Navier-Stokes 

equations appropriate for low-speed, thermally-driven flow, with an emphasis on 

smoke and heat transport from fires. A visualization program, Smokeview (SMV), is 

available to display the output of FDS simulations [NIST 2010].

FEM3MP FEM3MP is a finite element model based massively parallel code that generates 

accurate predictions of wind fields and dispersed concentrations. It has been 

developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) over the past two 

decades. It has both Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy 

Simulation (LES) turbulence models. The code has been extensively tested against 

data obtained from wind-tunnel and field experiments, such as Urban 2000 in Salt 

Lake City, Utah, and Joint Urban 2003 in Oklahoma City [LLNL 2001].

FLUENT FLUENT is a computation fluid dynamics (CFD) tool that has been used for gas 

dispersion analysis and hazard assessments. It uses an unstructured grid to represent 

complex shapes together with Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and Detached Eddy 

Simulation (DES) turbulence models. It is a commercial tool available through 

ANSYS [ANSYS 2010].

GASTAR GASTAR is a dense gas dispersion model suited to modeling accident and emergency 

response scenarios or investigating site safety involving releases of flammable and/or 

toxic materials from a variety of industrial accidents such as cryogenic spills, 

catastrophic tank failure, pipe fractures, and multi-phase jets. It is used for risk 

assessment, land-use planning, emergency response planning, and management and 

training [CERC 2010].

HOTSPOT HOTSPOT is a fast-running local-scale steady-state Gaussian plume model for 

radiological releases developed at LLNL. This model is fast and simple, requiring a 

minimum amount of input data. It can provide initial predictions of the timeintegrated effect (such as dosage from the entire plume passage). It can be used to 

make initial protective action recommendations, using conservative assumptions, 

before advanced model results are available [NARAC 2010c].

HPAC Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) automated software system 

provides the means to accurately predict the effects of hazardous material released 

into the atmosphere and its impact on civilian and military populations. It can model 

chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear agents. It has been developed under the 

sponsorship of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency [ODATSD 2010].

HYSPLIT Hybrid Singe-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory models dispersion of 

chemical agents. It is a complete system for computing simple air parcel trajectories 

to complex dispersion and deposition simulations. The model’s default configuration 

assumes a puff distribution in the horizontal and particle dispersion in the vertical 

direction. It was developed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

[NOAA 2010a].

LODI Lagrangian Operational Dispersion Integrator, LODI, is an atmospheric dispersion 

model developed for operational emergency response within the U.S. Department of 

Energy’s National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC). It solves the 3-D 
21

advection diffusion equation using a Lagrangian stochastic, Monte Carlo method 

which calculates possible trajectories of fluid “particles” in a turbulent flow [Leone 

2001].

LSMS LSMS (Liquid Spill Modelling System) is a tool for calculating the spreading and 

vaporization of a liquid pool. Liquids such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied 

petroleum gas (LPG) and others are routinely stored at low temperatures and on their 

release to the atmosphere they boil or evaporate depending on their temperature 

relative to the ambient air. As the liquid spreads, the size of the liquid pool changes 

and the vaporization rate alters accordingly and such information is essential for 

calculating the subsequent dispersion of the cold vapor [CERC 2010].

JEM Joint Effects Model (JEM) is being developed by DTRA and will provide the military 

with a single validated ability to predict and track CBRN and toxic industrial 

chemicals (TIC) effects, as well as estimates of the source location and source term 

and the ability to make refined dispersion calculations. It was scheduled for full 

operation by fiscal year 2009, and the second increment of JEM, scheduled to be 

operational by fiscal year 2011, will include the ability to predict hazard areas and 

effects for urban areas [Smith 2005]. 

OBODM OBODM is intended for use in evaluating the potential air quality impacts of the open 

burning and detonation (OB/OD) of obsolete munitions and solid propellants. 

OBODM uses cloud/plume rise dispersion, and deposition algorithms taken from 

existing models for instantaneous and quasi-continuous sources to predict the 

downwind transport and dispersion of pollutants released by OB/OD operations [EPA 

2010c].

QUIC Quick Urban and Industrial Complex (QUIC) dispersion modeling system produces a 

three-dimensional wind field around buildings, accounts for building-induced 

turbulence, and contains a graphic user interface for setup, running, and visualization. 

QUIC has been applied to neighborhood problems in Chicago, New York City, Salt 

Lake City, and Washington, D.C. [LANL 2010].

RASCAL Radiological Assessment System for Consequence Analysis (RASCAL) was 

developed for use by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff who respond 

to power reactor accidents and other radiological emergencies. RASCAL 3.0.5 

(December 2006 release with December 2008 updates), is the latest version available. 

It evaluates releases from nuclear power plants, spent fuel storage pools and casks, 

fuel cycle facilities, and radioactive material handling facilities. RASCAL can be used 

by response personnel to conduct an independent evaluation of dose and consequence 

projections and for training and drills [ORNL 2010b].

RUSTIC/MESO RUSTIC/MESO is a coupled fast-CFD/Lagrangian transport and dispersion model for 

predicting airborne and deposited hazards in urban environments. The modeling 

system consists of a fast running urban wind flow code, Realistic Urban Spread and 

Transport of Intrusive Contaminants (RUSTIC), that is coupled with a Lagrangian 

particle advection and diffusion code (MESO – Mesoscale Atmospheric Transport 

and Diffusion Code). The design of both codes is such that the computational speed 

can be moderated with input parameters that determine the degree of accuracy and/or 

quickness of the solution [Roney 2010].
22

SCIPUFF Second-order Closure Integrated PUFF Model (SCIPUFF) is a Lagrangian puff 

dispersion model that uses a collection of Gaussian puffs to predict three-dimensional, 

time-dependent pollutant concentrations. In addition to the average concentration 

value, SCIPUFF provides a prediction of the statistical variance in the concentration 

field resulting from the random fluctuations in the wind field [EPA 2010c].

Turbo FRMAC Turbo Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (Turbo FRMAC 

(TF)) software automates the calculations described in volumes 1-3 of The Federal 

Manual for Assessing Environmental Data During a Radiological Emergency. This 

software automates the process of assessing radiological data during a Federal 

Radiological Emergency. The manual upon which the software is based is 

unclassified and freely available on the Internet. TF takes values generated by field 

samples or computer dispersion models and assesses the data in a way which is 

meaningful to a decision maker at a radiological emergency; such as, do radiation 

values exceed city, state, or federal limits; should the crops be destroyed or can they 

be utilized; do residents need to be evacuated, sheltered in place, or should another 

action be taken [OSTI 2010].

UDM Urban Dispersion Model is a component of the DTRA HPAC modeling suite. It is a 

Gaussian puff model designed to calculate the flow of dispersion around obstacles in 

an urban environment. DTRA entered into a cooperative agreement in fiscal year 

2000 with the United Kingdom’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and 

Defence Research and Development Canada to develop UDM. The program’s 

objective was to enhance HPAC models in an urban domain [Neuman 2006].

VERDI VERDI is a Java program for visualizing meteorology, emissions, and air quality 

modeling data. With options for overlaying GIS Shapefiles and observational data 

onto model output, VERDI offers a range of options for viewing atmospheric 

modeling data. VERDI scripting provides a powerful interface for automating the 

production of graphics for analyzing the data [CMAS 2010].

VLSTRACK The VLSTRACK Computer Model, version 1.6, provides approximate downwind 

hazard predictions for a wide range of chemical and biological agents and munitions 

of military interest. Output can be obtained either as a cumulative hazard from the 

time of the attack or as a periodic hazard for each time period. The model also 

features variable meteorology, allowing for interfacing the attack with a 

meteorological forecast; this feature is very important for biological and secondary 

evaporation computations. A vertical wind profile meteorology forecast can also be 

used for high-altitude releases [OFCM 2010c].

WRF Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is a mesoscale numerical weather 

prediction system designed to serve both operational forecasting and atmospheric 

research needs. It features multiple dynamical cores, a 3-dimensional variational 

(3DVAR) data assimilation system, and a software architecture allowing for 

computational parallelism and system extensibility. WRF is suitable for a broad 

spectrum of applications across scales ranging from meters to thousands of kilometers 

[WRF 2010].
23

6.3. Relevant Standards and Guidelines

This section identifies standards and guidelines that are potentially relevant to the development of 

hazardous material release models and simulations. The standards and guidelines may include 

mechanisms and formats for the interchange of data, data storage, generation of information displays, 

integration of systems, and/or conceptualization and design of hazardous material release models and 

simulations. Subsection 1 includes the standards that are specific to hazardous material release domain. 

The following subsections list standards that are common across the homeland security applications of 

M&S and focus on conceptual modeling, distributed simulation, geographical information system (GIS), 

and communications respectively.

6.3.1 Domain Specific Standards

Standard Title Overview

After a Terrorist Bombing: Health 

and Safety Information for the 

General Public

Description: Federal, state, and local officials are working 

together to help people who have been affected by the blast and 

will provide updated information as soon as they learn more. 

This document contains “Immediately after the event” and 

“Hours or days after the event” [CDC 2010a].

Standard type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Air Quality – Exchange of Data Description: A general air quality data format for direct data 

import and condensed air quality data format for file exchange 

[ANSI 2010].

Standard Type: ISO 7168-1:1999; ISO 7168-2:1999

Organization: International Organization for Standardization 

(ISO), and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) 

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

Airborne instrumentation for 

measurement of terrestrial gamma 

radiation

Description: Applies to airborne radiation detection systems 

used in geologic mapping, in regional and local prospecting for 

uranium mineralization and for locating and monitoring manmade changes in environmental radioactivity [IEC 2010].

Standard type: IEC 61134 Ed. 1.0 b:1992

Organization: International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

American National Standard for 

Training Requirements for 

Homeland Security Purposes Using 

Radiation Detection Instrumentation 

for Interdiction and Prevention

Description: This standard describes training requirements for 

U.S. Homeland Security purposes using radiation detection 

instrumentation for interdiction and prevention [ANSI 2010].

Standard Type: ANSI N42.37-2006

Organization: American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Binary Universal Form for Data 

Representation of Meteorological 

Data (BUFR) 

Description: Format specifications for representing 

meteorological, non-grid-point data (alphanumeric text) [ANSI 

2010].
24

Standard Type: FM94 BUFR; FM 94-IX EXT. BUFR

Organization: World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and 

American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

Casualty Management After 

Detonation of a Nuclear Weapon in 

an Urban Area

Description: Immediate actions for first responders when a 

nuclear weapon has been detonated in an urban area. This 

document contains recommended immediate actions for police 

officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians who 

may be faced with the detonation of a nuclear weapon in a 

populated area [CDC 2010b].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Communicating in the First Hours 

for Anthrax: Short and Extended 

Messages

Description: Public health officials can use these short and 

extended messages during the first hours after a suspected 

anthrax emergency. The short messages include essential 

information to help minimize the immediate risk to the public 

from an attack. The extended messages also include general 

information that can be used as a resource for officials in 

developing messages tailored to a specific situation [CDC 

2010c].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Digital Weather Markup Language 

(DWML)

Description: An XML-based language for retrieving data from 

the NWS digital forecast database [NWS 2010a].

Standard Type: Government specification

Organization: National Weather Service (NWS)

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

Emergency Response Cards Description: Detailed tables describing the necessary PPE & 

actions for different types of exposure to each agent [CDC 

2010d].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

ESRI Shapefile Technical 

Description

Description: A geospatial vector data format for geographic 

information systems software [ESRI 2010]. 

Standard Type: Industry specification

Organization: Environmental Systems Research Institute 

(ESRI)

Classification: Document formats
25

Facts About the Laboratory 

Response Network

Description: Description of the network of labs that respond to 

biological & chemical terrorism. In 1999, the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the 

Laboratory Response Network (LRN). The LRN’s purpose is to 

run a network of labs that can respond to biological and 

chemical terrorism, and other public health emergencies. The 

LRN has grown since its inception. It now includes state and 

local public health, veterinary, military, and international labs. 

This fact sheet provides a brief description of the LRN, and how 

it works [CDC 2010e].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Fire Protection Guide to Hazardous 

Materials

Description: A guide on how to safely store and handle 

chemicals and respond to emergencies quickly and effectively. 

This resource provides three comprehensive indexes so the users 

can access information by chemical name, synonym, or CAS 

number. You’ll have information about the full range of 

chemicals, plus National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 30 

or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 

classifications for flammable and combustible liquids [NFPA 

2010].

Standard Type: 2001 Edition

Organization: The National Fire Protection Association 

(NFPA)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Flexible Image Transport System 

(FITS)

Description: A data format designed to provide a means for 

convenient exchange of astronomical data between installations 

whose standard internal formats and hardware differ. It is used 

for the transport, analysis, and archival storage of scientific data 

sets [NASA 2010a].

Standard Type: Government specification 

Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

(NASA)

Classification: Document formats

Guidance Documentation –

Dispersion Modeling of Toxic 

Pollutants in Urban Areas

Description: Guidance related to air pollution and air quality 

management [EPA 2010d]. 

Standard Type: EPA-454/R-99-021 

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Classification: Operational guidelines

Guidance for Protecting Building 

Environments from Airborne 

Chemical, Biological, or 

Radiological Attacks

Description: This document identifies actions that a building 

owner or manager can implement without undue delay to 

enhance occupant protection from an airborne chemical, 

biological, or radiological attack [CDC 2010f].

Standard Type: N/A
26

Organization: The National Institute for Occupational Safety & 

Health (NIOSH), The Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Guidance on the Application of 

Refined Dispersion Models to 

Hazardous/Toxic Air Pollutant 

Releases

Description: Guidance related to air pollution and air quality 

management [EPA 2010e].

Standard Type: EPA-454/R-93-002

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Classification: Operational guidelines

Guidance on the Development, 

Evaluation, and Application of 

Environmental Models

Description: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

uses a wide range of models 

(http://www.epa.gov/osp/crem/library/whitman.PDF) to make 

informed decisions that support its mission of protecting human 

health and safeguarding the natural environment – air, water, 

and land – upon which life depends. This guidance provides 

recommendations for the effective development, evaluation, and 

use of models in environmental decision making once an 

environmental issue has been identified. This guidance 

recommends best practices to help determine when a model, 

despite its uncertainties, can be appropriately used to inform a 

decision [EPA 2009].

Standard Type: EPA/100/K-09/003

Organization: U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Guide for Fire and Explosion 

Investigations

Description: The Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations is 

designed to assist individuals who are charged with the 

responsibility of investigating and analyzing fire and explosion 

incidents and rendering opinions as to the origin, cause, 

responsibility, or prevention of such incidents [NFPA 2010].

Standard Type: NFPA 921-2008

Organization: The National Fire Protection Association 

(NFPA)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Guide for the selection of Personal 

Protective Equipment for Emergency 

First Responders

Description: A guidance intended to be useful to the emergency 

first responder community in the selection of personal protective 

equipment (PPE) [NCJRS 2010]. 

Standard Type: National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Guide 102-

00

Organization: National Institute of Justice

Classification: Operational guidelines

Hazardous Substances Emergency 

Events Surveillance (HSEES)

Description: Collects & analyzes info about acute releases of 

hazardous substances that need to be cleaned up or neutralized 

according to federal, state, or local law, as well as threatened 

releases that result in a public health action such as an 

evacuation. The Hazardous Substances Emergency Events 
27

Surveillance (HSEES) system was established by the Agency for 

Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to collect and 

analyze information about acute releases of hazardous 

substances and threatened releases that result in a public health 

action such as an evacuation. The goal of HSEES is to reduce 

the morbidity (injury) and mortality (death) that result from 

hazardous substances events, which are experienced by first 

responders, employees, and the general public [CDC 2010g]. 

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease 

Registry (ATSDR)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Hierarchical Data Format-Earth 

Observing System (HDF-EOS)

Description: HDF is a format for prescribing standard data 

products that are derived from EOS missions [NSIDC 2010].

Standard Type: Government specification

Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

(NASA)

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

Interim Recommendations for 

Firefighters & Other First 

Responders for the Selection & Use 

of Protective Clothing & Respirators 

Against Biological Agents

Description: The approach to any potentially hazardous 

atmosphere, including biological hazards, must be made with a 

plan that includes an assessment of hazard and exposure 

potential, respiratory protection needs, entry conditions, exit 

routes, and decontamination strategies. Any plan involving a 

biological hazard should be based on relevant infectious disease 

or biological safety recommendations by the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention (CDC) and other expert bodies including 

emergency first responders, law enforcement, and public health 

officials. The need for decontamination and for treatment of all 

first responders with antibiotics or other medications should be 

decided in consultation with local public health authorities. This 

INTERIM STATEMENT is based on current understanding of 

the potential threats and existing recommendations issued for 

biological aerosols [CDC 2010h].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Long Term Structure of the IAEA 

(International Atomic Energy 

Agency) Safety Standards and 

Current Status

Description: The long-term set of Safety Standards includes 

unified Safety Fundamentals (SF1), General Safety 

Requirements (GSR) in seven parts applicable to all facilities 

and activities with a graded approach, and complemented by a 

set of six facilities and activities Specific Safety Requirements 

(SSRs). The Safety Requirements are implemented through a set 

of general and specific safety guides [IAEA 2010].

Standard Type: N/A 

Organization: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 

Classification: Operational guidelines
28

Managing Hazardous Material 

Incidents (MHMI)

Description: The MHMI series is a three volume set (with a 

video) comprised of recommendations for on-scene (prehospital), and hospital medical management of patients exposed 

during a hazardous materials incident [CDC 2010p]. 

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease 

Registry (ATSDR)

Classification: Operational guidelines

Medical Management Guidelines for 

Chemical Agents

Description: The document provides a list of chemical medical 

management guidelines for Ammonia, Arsine (SA), Benzene, 

Chlorine (CL), Cyanide, Cyanogen chloride (CK), Ethylene 

glycol, Hydrogen cyanide (AC), Lewisite (L, L-1, L-2, L-3), 

Mustard gas (H), Nitrogen mustard (HN-1, HN-2, HN-3), 

Phosgene (CG), Phosphine, Potassium cyanide (KCN), Sarin 

(GB), and Sodium cyanide (NaCN), etc. [CDC 2010i].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Medical Management Guidelines for 

Unidentified Chemicals

Description: Basic victim management recommendations to 

follow when the chemical is not known [CDC 2010i].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease 

Registry (ATSDR)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

NARSTO Data Exchange Standard 

(DES) format

Description: A data exchange format for evaluation, analyses, 

and sharing NARSTO data including air chemistry, 

meteorological, and related atmospheric data, and metadata 

[ORNL 2010c]. 

Standard Type: Industry specification 

Organization: NARSTO (formerly North American Research 

Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone) 

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards (NAAQS)

Description: There are two types of national air quality 

standards: Primary standards set limits to protect public health, 

including the health of “sensitive” populations such as 

asthmatics, children, and the elderly. Secondary standards set 

limits to protect public welfare, including protection against 

decreased visibility, damage to animals, crops, vegetation, and 

buildings [EPA 2010f].

Standard Type: Government Specification 

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Classification: Operational guidelines

NFPA Standard Classifications for 

Incident Reporting and Fire 

Description: A specification that provides a common language 

and definitions to define and describe pre-incident 
29

Protection Data environments, fire and other emergency incidents, post-incident 

damage assessments, and fire service data [NFPA 2010]. 

Standard Type: NFPA-901

Organization: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical 

Hazards (NIOSH)

Description: The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards 

(NPG) is intended as a source of general industrial hygiene 

information on several hundred chemicals/classes for workers, 

employers, and occupational health professionals. The NPG 

does not contain an analysis of all pertinent data, rather it 

presents key information and data in abbreviated or tabular form 

for chemicals or substance groupings (e.g., cyanides, fluorides, 

manganese compounds) that are found in the work environment. 

The information found in the NPG should help users recognize 

and control occupational chemical hazards [CDC 2010j].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The National Institute for Occupational Safety & 

Health(NIOSH)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Population Monitoring in Radiation 

Emergencies: A Guide for State and 

Local Public Health Planners

Description: Population monitoring is the process of 

identifying, screening, and monitoring people for exposure to 

radiation or contamination from radioactive materials. This 

planners’ guide presents an introduction to population 

monitoring in radiation emergencies for public health officials 

and emergency preparedness planners at the state and local 

levels. It describes how to plan for population monitoring and 

provides practical suggestions to address the many challenges it 

presents when a large population is potentially impacted [CDC 

2010k].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Public Health Response to 

Biological & Chemical Terrorism: 

Interim Planning Guidance for State 

Public Health Officials

Description: This Planning Guidance is designed to help state 

public health officials determine the roles of their departments in 

response to biological and chemical terrorism and to understand 

the emergency response roles of local health departments and 

the emergency management system. The Planning Guidance 

also can be used to help state health departments coordinate their 

efforts with the many agencies and organizations at all levels of 

government that ultimately would respond to a biological or 

chemical terrorism event [CDC 2010l].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines
30

Recognition of Illness Associated 

with the Intentional Release of a 

Biologic Agent

Description: Provides guidance for healthcare providers & 

public health personnel about recognizing illnesses or patterns of 

illness that might be associated with intentional release of 

biologic agents [CDC 2010m].

Standard Type: MMWR 2001

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Roundtable on Population 

Monitoring Following a 

Nuclear/Radiological Incident

Description: Recommendations & comments from participants 

in CDC’s roundtable (Jan. 11-12, 2005) on challenges associated 

with monitoring people affected by a nuclear or radiological 

incident [CDC 2010n].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Sheltering in Place during a 

Radiation Emergency

Description: This action is called “sheltering in place.” Because 

many radioactive materials rapidly decay and dissipate, staying 

in your home for a short time may protect you from exposure to 

radiation. The walls of your home may block much of the 

harmful radiation. Taking a few simple precautions can help you 

reduce your exposure to radiation. The Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention has prepared this fact sheet to help you 

protect yourself and your family and to help you prepare a safe 

and well-stocked shelter [CDC 2010o].

Standard Type: N/A

Organization: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Standard for Competence of 

Responders to Hazardous 

Materials/Weapons of Mass 

Destruction Incidents

Description: It identifies the minimum levels of competence 

required by responders to emergencies involving hazardous 

materials/weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The 2008 

edition has been re-titled and completely rewritten (with major 

chapter reorganization) to apply to ALL first responders, 

regardless of response discipline, who may respond to the 

emergency phase of such incidents. It is based on the operational 

philosophies that emergency responders should be trained to 

perform their expected tasks, and that a responder cannot safely 

and effectively respond to a terrorism or criminal scenario 

involving hazmat/WMD if they don’t first understand basic 

hazardous materials response [NFPA 2010].

Standard type: NFPA 472-2008

Organization: The National Fire Protection Association 

(NFPA)

Classification: Operational Guidelines
31

Standard for Competencies for 

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) 

Personnel Responding to Hazardous 

Materials/Weapons of Mass 

Destruction Incidents 

Description: Expanded coverage in the 2008 NFPA 473 

includes qualifications for EMS responders to terrorism 

incidents that involve hazardous materials. NFPA 473: Standard 

for Competencies for EMS Personnel Responding to Hazardous 

Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents identifies the 

levels of competence required of emergency medical services 

(EMS) personnel who respond to hazardous materials incidents. 

It specifically covers the requirements for Basic Life Support 

(BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) personnel in the prehospital setting. The 2008 edition of NFPA 473 has been retitled and completely rewritten to address the hazards that 

emergency medical services (EMS) personnel encounter from 

hazardous materials/weapons of mass destruction. New 

definitions and technical information have been added. The 

requirements in the 2008 edition will enhance the safety and 

protection of response personnel and all components of the EMS 

system [NFPA 2010].

Standard type: NFPA 473-2008

Organization: The National Fire Protection Association 

(NFPA)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Standard Guide for Application of 

Engineering Controls to Facilitate 

Use or Redevelopment of ChemicalAffected Properties

Description: This guide presents general considerations for 

application of engineering controls to facilitate continued use or 

redevelopment of properties containing chemical-affected soil, 

groundwater, or other environmental media, due either to 

chemical releases or naturally-occurring conditions [ASTM 

2010].

Standard type: E2435 – 05

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for Assessing the 

Hazard of a Material to Aquatic 

Organisms and Their Uses

Description: This guide describes a stepwise process for using 

information concerning the biological, chemical, physical, and 

toxicological properties of a material to identify adverse effects 

likely to occur to aquatic organisms and their uses as a result of 

release of the material to the environment [ASTM 2010].

Standard type: E1023 – 84(2007)

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for Assessing the 

Health Hazard of Pesticides to 

Applicators and Others with 

Potential Exposure

Description: This guide covers a stepwise process for using 

information concerning biological, chemical, physical, and 

toxicological properties of a pesticide or other chemical(s), or of 

a formulation to identify adverse effects that may occur to 

pesticide applicators or others with potential exposure [ASTM 

2010].

Standard type: E1429 – 91(2004)

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline
32

Standard Guide for Chemical Fate in 

Site-Specific Sediment/Water 

Microcosms

Description: This guide provides procedures and criteria for the 

development and use of sediment/water microcosms for 

laboratory evaluations of the fate of chemical substances in the 

environment [ASTM 2010].

Standard type: E1624 – 94(2008)

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for Collecting 

Treatment Process Design Data at a 

Contaminated Site-A Site 

Contaminated With Chemicals of 

Interest

Description: This guide lists the physical and chemical 

treatment processes design data needed to evaluate, select, and 

design treatment processes for remediation of contaminated sites 

[ASTM 2010].

Standard type: D7294 – 06

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for Containment of 

Hazardous Material Spills by 

Emergency Response Personnel

Description: This guide describes methods to contain the spread 

of hazardous materials that have been discharged into the 

environment [ASTM 2010].

Standard type: F1127 – 07

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for Health and 

Safety Training of Oil Spill 

Responders in the United States

Description: This guide establishes minimum health and safety 

training standards for three types of oil spill responders: Type 

A, first responders who are responsible for initial containment 

and cleanup; Type B, longer-term shoreline cleanup personnel; 

and Type C, other necessary support personnel who have 

minimal contact with the contamination [ASTM 2010]. 

Standard type: F1656 – 01

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for In-Situ Burning 

of Oil in Ships or Other Vessels

Description: This guide covers the use of in-situ burning 

directly in ships and other vessels. This guide is not applicable 

to in-situ burning of oil on sea or land [ASTM 2010].

Standard type: F2533 – 07 

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for In-Situ Burning 

of Oil Spills on Water: 

Environmental and Operational 

Considerations

Description: This guide covers the use of in-situ burning to 

assist in the control of oil spills on water. This guide is not 

applicable to in-situ burning of oil on land.

Standard type: F1788 – 08 

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Guide for Risk-Based 

Corrective Action Applied at 

Petroleum Release Sites

Description: This is a guide to risk-based corrective action 

(RBCA), which is a consistent decision-making process for the 

assessment and response to a petroleum release, based on the 
33

protection of human health and the environment [ASTM 2010].

Standard type: E1739 – 95(2002)

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard on Protective Ensembles 

for First Responders to CBRN 

Terrorism Incidents

Description: It establishes the minimum requirements for the 

design, performance, testing, documentation, and certification of 

protective ensembles and ensemble elements for protection of 

emergency first responder personnel from chemicals, biological 

agents, and radiological particulate (CBRN) terrorism agents 

[NFPA 2010].

Standard type: NFPA 1994-2007

Organization: The National Fire Protection Association 

(NFPA)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Standard on Vapor-Protective 

Ensembles for Hazardous Materials 

Emergencies

Description: It provides requirements for the highest level of 

protection for emergency responders to hazardous materials 

incidents where an unknown threat, a vapor threat, or a chemical 

or biological terrorism WMD threat is present or expected. 

Criteria address design, performance, certification, and 

documentation requirements [NFPA 2010].

Standard Type: NFPA 1991-2005

Organization: The National Fire Protection Association 

(NFPA)

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Standard Practice for Determination 

of Hydrolysis Rate Constants of 

Organic Chemicals in Aqueous 

Solutions

Description: This practice describes specific procedures for 

obtaining solution hydrolysis rate constants and half-lives of 

organic chemicals that may enter the aquatic environment 

[ASTM 2010].

Standard type: E895 – 89(2008)

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guideline

Standard Practice for Radiological 

Emergency Response 

Description: This practice provides decision-making 

considerations for response to incidents that involve radioactive 

materials. It provides information and guidance for what to 

include in response planning, and what activities to conduct 

during a response. The scope of this standard does not explicitly 

consider response to improvised nuclear devices (INDs) or 

nuclear power plant accidents. It does not expressly address 

emergency response to contamination of food or water supplies. 

This practice applies to those emergency response agencies that 

have a role in the response to a radiological incident, excluding 

an IND incident. It should be used in emergency services 

response such as law enforcement, fire department, and 

emergency medical response actions. This practice assumes that 

implementation begins with the recognition of a radiological 

incident and ends when emergency response actions cease or the 
34

response is assumed by specialized regional, state, or federal 

response teams [ASTM 2010].

Standard type: ASTM E2601-08

Organization: ASTM International

Classification: Operational Guidelines

Topologically Integrated 

Geographic Encoding and 

Referencing /Geography Markup 

Language (TIGER/GML) 

Description: A specification for encoding geographic features 

in XML [OGC 2010c].

Standard Type: Industry specification 

Organization: The Open Geo-spatial Consortium, Inc (OGC) 

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

Vector Product Format (VPF) Description: A format, structure, and organization for large 

geographic databases that are based on a geo-relational data 

model and are intended for direct use [MIL 2010]. 

Standard Type: MIL-STD-2407

Organization: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Classification: General purpose Integration Interfaces

6.3.2 Conceptual Modeling Standards

Standard Title Overview

Discrete Event System Specification 

(DEVS) 

Description: DEVS is a systems-theoretic approach to 

modeling. More specifically, it is state-centered formalism. A 

system consists of interconnected subsystems. A subsystem is a 

system. Leaf systems (atomic DEVSes) are state machines. 

DEVS can be viewed as a framework unifying a number of 

other formalisms in a consistent, systems theoretic, state 

centered fashion [DEVS 2011].

Standard Type: Specification

Organization: Simulation Interoperability Standards 

Organization (SISO); Society for Modeling and Computer 

Simulation International (SCS)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Systems Modeling Language 

(SysML)

Description: SysML is a general purpose modeling language for 

systems engineering applications. It is a dialect of UML, the 

industry standard for modeling software-intensive systems. It 

supports the specification, analysis, design, verification and 

validation of a broad range of systems and systems-of-systems. 

These systems may include hardware, software, information, 

processes, personnel, and facilities [OMG 2011]. 

Standard Type: SysML 1.2

Organization: Object Management Group, Inc. (OMG)

Classification: Document format
35

Unified Modeling Language (UML) Description: A graphical language for visualizing, specifying, 

constructing and documenting the artifacts of a softwareintensive system. The UML offers a standard way to write a 

system’s blueprints, including conceptual things such as 

business processes and system functions, as well as concrete 

things such as programming language statements, database 

schemas, and reusable software components [ANSI 2011c]. 

Standard Type: UML 2.0, UML 2.1.1; UML 2.1.2; UML 2.2; 

UML 2.3; ISO/IEC 19501:2004

Organization: ISO; ANSI; Object Management Group, Inc. 

(OMG)

Classification: Document format

6.3.3 Distributed Simulation Standards

Standard Title Overview

Distributed Interactive Simulation Description: Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) is a 

government/industry initiative to define an infrastructure for 

linking simulations of various types at multiple locations to 

create realistic, complex, virtual worlds for the simulation of 

highly interactive activities. A series of IEEE standards to 

support information exchange between simulation applications 

participating in the DIS environment are defined. IEEE Std 

1278.1 defines the format and semantics of data messages, also 

known as Protocol Data Units (PDUs), that are exchanged 

between simulation applications and simulation management. 

IEEE Std 1278.2 defines the communication services required to 

support the message exchange described in IEEE Std 1278.1. 

IEEE 1278-3 provides guidelines for establishing a DIS 

exercise, managing the exercise, and providing proper feedback. 

IEEE 1278-4 establishes guidelines for the verification, 

validation, and accreditation (VV&A) of Distributed Interactive 

Simulation (DIS) exercises [IHS 2011a].

Standard Type: IEEE 1278-1993, IEEE 1278.1-1995, IEEE 

1278.1A-1998, IEEE-1278.2-1995, IEEE 1278.3-1996, IEEE 

1278.4-1997

Organization: IEEE; IHS, Inc.

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Extensible Modeling and Simulation 

Framework (XMSF) 

Description: The Extensible Modeling and Simulation 

Framework (XMSF) is defined as a set of Web-based 

technologies and services, applied within an extensible 

framework, that enables a new generation of modeling & 

simulation (M&S) applications to emerge, develop and 

interoperate [DODCCRP 2011]. XMSF provides a framework 

which allows both Department of Defense (DoD) and non-DoD 

Modeling and Simulation (M&S) projects to take advantage of 

Web-based technologies.
36

Standard Type: XMSF 1.0

Organization: Naval Postgraduate School MOVES Institute; 

George Mason University NetLab; Science Applications 

International Corporation; Old Dominion University

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

High Level Architecture (HLA) Description: This standard defines the HLA, its components, 

and the rules that outline the responsibilities of HLA federates 

and federations to ensure a consistent implementation [IEEE 

2011c].

Standard Type: IEEE 1516-2000, IEEE 1516.1-2000, 1516.2-

2000, ANSI/IEEE 1516.3-2003; IEEE 1516.4-2007

Organization: IEEE/Simulation Interoperability Standards 

Organization (SISO); ANSI

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

6.3.4 Selected Geographic Information System (GIS) Standards

Standard Title Overview

CityGML – Exchange and Storage of 

Virtual 3D City Models

Description: A standard for the representation, storage, and 

exchange of virtual 3D city and landscape models. CityGML is 

implemented as an application schema of the Geography 

Markup Language version 3.1.1. It is based on a rich, general 

purpose information model in additional to geometry and 

appearance information. For specific domain areas, CityGML 

also provides an extension mechanism to enrich the data with 

identifiable features under preservation of semantic 

interoperability [OGC 2011a].

Standard Type: OGC 06-057r1; ISO TC211

Organization: Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

American National Standard for 

Information Technology –

Geographical Information Systems –

Spatial Data Standard for Facilities, 

Infrastructure, and Environment 

(SDSFIE)

Description: This standard provides a means to model and 

categorize real-world geographic phenomena of interest to the 

Facilities, Infrastructure, and Environment (FIE) Domain(s) into 

a set of geographic data that can be represented in a spatial 

database and presented to a user in digital form. This SDSFIE 

standard is intended to provide the enterprise spatial database 

schema to support multiple FIE applications. This National 

Standard is applicable to the federal, state, county, and city 

agencies; private companies; and any other organizations that 

perform AM & FM functions for facilities and other types of 

infrastructure (such as roads, waterways, utility systems, etc,) 

and/or perform environmental compliance, restoration, and/or 

pollution prevention activities [ANSI 2011a]. 

Standard Type: ANSI INCITS 353-2006

Organization: American National Standards Institute (ANSI); 
37

International Committee for Information Technology Standards 

(INCITS)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Content Standard for Digital 

Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM)

Description: The standard is often referred to as the FGDC 

Metadata Standard. The objectives of the standard are to 

provide a common set of terminology and definitions for the 

documentation of digital geospatial data. The standard 

establishes the names of data elements and compound elements 

(groups of data elements) to be used for these purposes, the 

definitions of these compound elements and data elements, and 

information about the values that are to be provided for the data 

elements [FGDC 2011a].

Standard Type: FGDC-STD-001-1998; FGDC-STD-001.1-

1999; FGDC-STD-001.2-2001

Organization: Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Content Standard for Digital 

Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) –

Extensions for Remote Sensing 

Metadata

Description: The standard of Extensions for Remote Sensing 

Metadata standard provides a common terminology and set of 

definitions for documenting geospatial data obtained from 

remote sensing, within the framework of the FGDC Content 

Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) standard. 

The extensions provide a means to use standard FGDC content 

to describe geospatial data derived from remote sensing 

measurements. This standard is intended to support the 

collection and processing of geospatial metadata for data derived 

from remote sensing. It is intended to be used by all levels of 

government and the private sector [FGDC 2011b].

Standard Type: FGDC-STD-012-2002

Organization: The Federal Geographic Data Committee 

(FGDC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

GeoAPI SWG Standard Description: The GeoAPI Standard Working Group (SWG) 

aims to create the GeoAPI 3.0 Standard, which will define a set 

of Java language interfaces along with an associated test suite, to 

provide a standardized, programming language level realization 

of some core Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) 

specifications. These interfaces will facilitate the creation of 

accurate, coherent, interoperable, and verifiable implementations 

of those OGC standards [GEOAPI 2011].

Standard Type: OGC GeoAPI 3.0 SWG

Organization: OGC

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information – Encoding Description: The standard specifies the requirements for 

defining encoding rules to be used for interchange of geographic 

data within the ISO 19100 series of International Standards [ISO 

2011b]. 
38

Standard Type: ISO 19118:2005

Organization: ISO

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information – Locationbased services – Multimodal Routing 

and Navigation

Description: The standard specifies the data types and their 

associated operations for the implementation of multimodal

location-based services for routing and navigation. It is designed 

to specify web services that may be made available to wireless 

devices through web-resident proxy applications, but is not 

limited to that environment [ISO 2011b].

Standard Type: ISO 19134:2007

Organization: ISO

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information – Locationbased Services – Tracking and 

Navigation

Description: ISO 19133:2005 describes the data types, and 

operations associated with those types, for the implementation 

of tracking and navigation services. It is designed to specify web 

services that can be made available to wireless devices through 

web-resident proxy applications, but is not restricted to that 

environment [ISO 2011b].

Standard Type: ISO 19133:2005 

Organization: ISO

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information – Portrayal Description: The standard defines a schema describing the 

portrayal of geographic information in a form understandable by 

humans. It includes the methodology for describing symbols and 

mapping of the schema to an application schema. It does not 

include standardization of cartographic symbols, and their 

geometric and functional description [ISO 2011b].

Standard Type: ISO 19117:2005 

Organization: ISO

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information –

Procedures for Item Registration 

Description: ISO 19135:2005 specifies procedures to be 

followed in establishing, maintaining and publishing registers of 

unique, unambiguous and permanent identifiers, and meanings 

that are assigned to items of geographic information. In order to 

accomplish this purpose, ISO 19135:2005 specifies elements of 

information that are necessary to provide identification and 

meaning to the registered items and to manage the registration of 

these items [ISO 2011b].

Standard Type: INCITS/ISO/IEC 19135-2005 

Organization: ISO; International Committee for Information 

Technology Standards (INCITS); International Electrotechnical 

Commission (IEC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information – Schema 

for Moving Features 

Description: The standard defines a method to describe the 

geometry of a feature that moves as a rigid body [ISO 2011b]. 
39

Standard Type: ISO 19141:2008 

Organization: ISO

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information – Services Description: ISO 19119:2005 identifies and defines the 

architecture patterns for service interfaces used for geographic 

information, defines its relationship to the Open Systems 

Environment model, and presents geographic services taxonomy 

and a list of example geographic services placed in the services 

taxonomy. It also prescribes how to create a platform-neutral 

service specification, how to derive conformant platformspecific service specifications, and provides guidelines for the 

selection and specification of geographic services from both 

platform-neutral and platform-specific perspectives [ISO 

2011b].

Standard Type: INCITS/ISO 19119-2005

Organization: ISO; International Committee for Information 

Technology Standards (INCITS)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information – Simple 

Feature Access

Description: ISO 19125-1:2004 establishes a common 

architecture for geographic information and defines terms to use 

within the architecture. It also standardizes names and geometric 

definitions for Types for Geometry. INCITS/ISO 19125-2-2004 

specifies an Structured Query Language (SQL) schema that 

supports storage, retrieval, query and update of simple 

geospatial feature collections via the SQL Call Level Interface 

(SQL/CLI) and establishes an architecture for the 

implementation of feature tables. INCITS/ISO 19125-2-2004 

defines terms to use within the architecture of geographic 

information and defines a simple feature profile of ISO 19107. 

In addition, this part of ISO 19125:2004 describes a set of SQL 

Geometry Types together with SQL functions on those types. 

The Geometry Types and Functions described represent a profile 

of ISO 13249-3. INCITS/ISO 19125-2-2004 standardizes the 

names and geometric definitions of the SQL Types for 

Geometry and the names, signatures and geometric definitions 

of the SQL Functions for Geometry [ISO 2011b].

Standard Type : INCITS/ISO 19125-1-2004 ; INCITS/ISO 

19125-2-2004 

Organization: ISO; International Committee for Information 

Technology Standards (INCITS)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Geographic Information Framework 

Data Standard

Description: The standard establishes common data 

requirements for the exchange of National Spatial Data 

Infrastructure (NSDI) framework data [FGDC 2011c].

Standard Type: FGDC-STD-014.0-2008; FGDC-STD-014.1-

2008; FGDC-STD-014.2-2008; FGDC-STD-014.3-2008; 

FGDC-STD-014.4-2008; FGDC-STD-014.5-2008; FGDC-STD014.6-2008; FGDC-STD-014.7-2008; FGDC-STD-014.7b-
40

2008; FGDC-STD-014.7c-2008; FGDC-STD-014.7d-2008; 

FGDC-STD-014.7e-2008

Organization: Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

GeoTIFF Description: GeoTIFF is a metadata format, which provides 

geographic information to associate with the image data. 

GeoTIFF implements the geographic metadata formally, using 

compliant Tagged Image File (TIFF 6.0) tags and structures. 

“GeoTIFF” refers to TIFF files, which have geographic (or 

cartographic) data embedded as tags within the TIFF file. The 

geographic data can then be used to position the image in the 

correct location and geometry on the screen of a geographic 

information display [GEOTIFF 2011].

Standard Type: GeoTIFF/Revision 1.0

Organization: geotiff.osgeo.org

Classification : Document format

Governmental Unit and Other 

Geographic Area Boundaries

Description: A specification for establishing of content 

requirements for the collection and interchange of Government 

units and legal entity boundary data and for facilitating the 

maintenance and use of that information [FGDC 2010].

Standard Type: FGDC-STD-014.5-2008 

Organization: Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

GRIdded Binary (GRIB) Description: Format specifications for representing 

meteorological, gridded-point data [WMO 2010a].

Standard Type: FM 92-IX Ext. GRIB; FM 92-VIII EXT. GRIB

Organization: World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 

Classification: Domain-specific Integration Interfaces

Homeland Security Mapping 

Standard – Point Symbology for 

Emergency Management

Description: The primary purpose of this standard is to 

establish a common set of symbols for use by mapmakers in 

support of emergency managers and first responders. It will 

allow users to rapidly interpret map data and to be able to 

disseminate consistent, usable information. This American 

National Standard is applicable to all organizations that create 

maps or otherwise display features for the Emergency 

Management or First Responder communities. It is limited at 

this time to support portrayal of point features that relate to the 

emergency management and hazard mapping disciplines [ANSI 

2011b].

Standard Type: ANSI INCITS 415-2006 

Organization: American National Standards Institute (ANSI); 

International Committee for Information Technology Standards 

(INCITS)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface
41

OpenGIS Implementation 

Specification for Geographic 

Information – Simple Feature Access

Description: The OpenGIS Simple Features Interface Standard 

(SFS) provides a well-defined and common way for applications 

to store and access feature data in relational or object-relational 

databases, so that the data can be used to support other 

applications through a common feature model, data store and 

information access interface. OpenGIS Simple Features are 

geospatial features described using vector data elements such as 

points, lines, and polygons [OGC 2011c].

Standard Type: OGC 06-103r4 Version 1.2.1, OGC 05-126 

Organization: Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc (OGC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Spatial Data Transfer Standard 

(SDTS) 

Description: The Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) base 

specification (Parts 1, 2 and 3) describes the underlying 

conceptual model and the detailed specifications for the content, 

structure, and format for exchange of spatial data. Additional 

parts (4, 5, 6 and potentially others) are added as profiles, each 

of which defines specific rules and formats for applying SDTS 

for the exchange of particular types of data [FGDC 2011d] 

Standard Type: FGDC-STD-002.1; FGDC-STD-002.5; FGDCSTD-002.6; FGDC-STD-002.7-2000

Organization: Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Standard for a U.S. National Grid 

(USNG)

Description: A standard is used to define the U.S. National Grid 

and supports Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) 

coordinates, Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) grids, and 

the specific grid presentation requirements. It is used for 

acquisition/production of printed map and acquisition of 

location service appliances with printed map products [FGDC 

2011e]

Standard Type: FGDC-STD-011-2001

Organization: Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

6.3.5 Selected Communication Standards

Standard Title Overview

Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Description: The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a simple, 

flexible data interchange format for collecting and distributing 

“all-hazard” safety notifications and emergency warnings over 

information networks and public alerting systems. In Webservices applications, CAP provides a lightweight standard for 

exchanging urgent notifications. CAP can also be used in databroadcast applications and over legacy data networks. CAP is 

fully compatible with the existing national broadcast Emergency 

Alert System (EAS) [OASIS 2011a]. It is an XML-related data 

interchange standard for alerting and event notification 
42

applications. The standard supports two functions: a standalone 

protocol and a payload for Emergency Data Exchange Language 

(EDXL) messages.

Standard Type: CAP-V1.1

Organization: Organization for the Advancement of Structured 

Information Standards (OASIS)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

Common Incident Management 

Message Sets for use by Emergency 

Management Centers 

Description: This standard is the Base Standard for a family of 

related standards that address the intercommunication needs of 

emergency management centers and other types of centers 

engaged in transportation incident management [IEEE 2010].

Standard Type: IEEE 1512-2000, IEEE 1512.1, IEEE 1512.2, 

IEEE 1512.3

Organization: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 

(IEEE)

Classification: Document Format

Emergency Data Exchange 

Language (EDXL)

Description: Several organizations are collaborating on the 

design and development of a suite of specifications under the 

name “Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL)” [OASIS 

2011b]. EDXL is an integrated framework for a wide range of 

emergency data exchange standards to support operations, 

logistics, planning, and finance.

Standard Type: EXDL Distribution Element, V. 1.0 (EDXLDE-V1.0); EDXL Resource Message Specification 1.0 Working 

Draft Version 26 (EDXL-RM 1.0 v0026); EDXL Hospital 

Availability Exchange v1.0 Public Review Draft 02 (EDXLHAVE-1.0-spec-pr02)

Organization: Organization for the Advancement of Structured 

Information Standards (OASIS); Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS); Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC)

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface

National Information Exchange 

Model (NIEM)

Description: NIEM is designed to develop, disseminate and 

support enterprise-wide information exchange standards and 

processes that can enable jurisdictions to effectively share 

critical information in emergency situations, as well as support 

the day-to-day operations of agencies throughout the nation 

[NIEM 2011].

Organization: A partnership of the U.S. Department of Justice, 

the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services.

Classification: Domain-specific integration interface
43

6.4. Data Sources

This section identifies databases and other sources of data that may be used to develop or run hazardous 

material release models, and simulations. The name of the data source, a brief description of its contents, 

its access location, responsible organization, data formats used, as well a classification of the type of data 

is given below.

Data Source Title Overview

Assessment, Cleanup and 

Redevelopment Exchange System 

(ACRES) 

Description: Brown fields are real property, the expansion, 

redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the 

presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, 

pollutant, or contaminant. The Assessment, Cleanup and 

Redevelopment Exchange System (ACRES) is an online 

database for Brownfields Grantees to electronically submit data 

directly to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the 

environment, reduces blight, and takes development pressures 

off green spaces and working lands. ACRES data are shared 

with other online databases [EPA 2010g].

Data Source: ACRES, Version, 4.00.030

Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: KML (Keyhole Markup Language)

Classification: Environment; Controlling Documents

Accidental Release Information 

Program (ARIP) Database 

Description: The Accidental Release Information Program 

(ARIP) is contained in a zip file that contains the ARIP database 

file and supporting documentation. The ARIP database collects 

information on accidental releases of hazardous chemicals at 

fixed facilities [EPA 2010p].

Data Source: ARIP 98.dbf

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: DBF (Database file name extension); TXT (Text file 

name extension)

Classification: Incidents; Environment

Aggregated Computational 

Toxicology Resource (ACToR)

Description: The Aggregated Computational Toxicology 

Resource (ACToR ) is a collection of databases collated or 

developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT). It 

aggregates data from over 500 public sources on over 500,000 

environmental chemicals and is made searchable by chemical 

name and other identifiers and by chemical structure. Chemicals 

include, but are not limited to, high and medium production 

volume industrial chemicals, pesticides (active and inert 

ingredients), and potential ground and drinking water 

contaminants. It provides a connection to another EPA chemical 

screening tool called ToxCast [EPA 2010h].

Data Source: ACToR _2010q1b

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
44

Format: Record; Table

Classification: Environment; Controlling Documents

Areal Locations of Hazardous 

Atmospheres (ALOHA)

Description: Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres 

(ALOHA), part of Computer-Aided Management of Emergency 

Operations (CAMEO) software suite, is an atmospheric 

dispersion model used for evaluating releases of hazardous 

chemical vapors, including toxic gas clouds, fires, and 

explosions. Using the release information ALOHA generates a 

threat zone estimate. A threat zone is the area where a hazard 

(such as toxicity, flammability, thermal radiation, or damaging 

overpressure) is predicted to exceed a user-specified level of 

concern. Threat zones can also be plotted on maps with 

Mapping Applications for Response, Planning, and Local 

Operational Tasks (MARPLOT). MARPLOT is a mapping 

application that can be used to quickly create, view, and modify 

maps) to display the location of facilities storing hazardous 

materials and vulnerable locations (such as hospitals and 

schools). Specific information about these locations can be 

extracted from Computer-Aided Management of Emergency 

Operations (CAMEO) information modules (that are 

applications used to assist with data management requirements) 

to help make decisions about the degree of hazard posed [EPA 

2010i]. 

Data Source: ALOHA, Version 5.4.1.2

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 

National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Format: Map; Data

Classification: Environment; Controlling Documents; Spatial

Bibliography on Alternatives to the 

Use of Live Vertebrates in 

Biomedical Research and Testing 

(ALTBIB)

Description: ALTBIB stands for Bibliography on Alternatives 

to the Use of Live Vertebrates in Biomedical Research and 

Testing. The bibliography is to assist in identifying methods and 

procedures helpful in supporting the development, testing, 

application, and validation of alternatives to the use of 

vertebrates in biomedical research and toxicology testing. 

ALTBIB only maintains information for years 1980-2000 [NIH 

2010a].

Data Source: ALTBIB; PubMed

Organization: The National Library of Medicine (NLM)

Format: TXT (Text file name extension)

Classification: Resources; Controlling Documents; 

Environment

Chemical Reactivity Worksheet 

(CRW)

Description: The Chemical Reactivity Worksheet (CRW) is a 

program that allows users to investigate the reactivity of 

substances or mixtures of substances. CRW includes a database 

of reactivity information for more than 5,000 common 

hazardous chemicals and offers a way to virtually “mix” 

chemicals—as well as water—to discover what chemical 
45

combinations are reactive. CRW also allows users to build a 

“Custom Chemical Database” containing all the unique 

materials that are present at a particular facility. CRW has been 

upgraded by NOAA to include a new FileMaker Runtime user 

interface, which makes it compatible with the latest computer 

operating systems. The database includes information about the 

intrinsic hazards of each chemical and about whether a chemical 

reacts with air, water, or other materials. It also includes case 

histories on specific chemical incidents, with references [NOAA 

2010b].

Data Source: CRW, Version 2.0.2

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); 

National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Format: Report

Classification: Environment; Controlling Documents; Incidents

Climate Monitoring Description: The National Climatic data Center provides a 

service to monitor climate. It allows to search state of the 

climate, U.S. products (such as weekly maps and societal 

impacts) , global products, drought monitoring, U.S. and global 

extremes, hurricanes/tropical storms, tornadoes, snow and ice 

data, climate information record data, special reports, other 

products (such as hazards support, and stratospheric ozone), and 

climate and network monitoring [NOAA 2010c]. 

Data Source: NOAA Climate Monitoring

Organization: National Climatic Data Center of the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Format: TXT; XML (Extensible Markup Language); RSS 

(Really Simple Syndication)

Classification: Resources; Controlling Documents; 

Environment; Demographic and Behavioral

Comprehensive Environmental 

Response, Compensation and 

Liability Information System 

(CERCLIS)

Description: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, 

Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS) 

contains information on hazardous waste sites, potentially 

hazardous waste sites and remedial activities across the nation. 

The CERCLIS Public Access Database contains a selected set of 

“non-enforcement confidential” information and is updated by 

the regions every 90 days. The data describes what has 

happened at Superfund sites prior to this quarter (updated 

quarterly). This database includes lists of involved parties (other 

Federal Agencies, states, and tribes), Human Exposure and 

Ground Water Migration, and Site Wide Ready for Reuse, 

Construction Completion, and Final Assessment Decision 

(GPRA-like measures) for fund lead sites. Other information 

that is included has been included only as a service to allow 

public evaluations utilizing this data [EPA 2010j].

Data Source: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Superfund Site

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: DBF (Database file name extension)
46

Classification: Environment; Resources; Controlling 

Documents

Computer-Aided Management of 

Emergency Operations (CAMEO) 

Chemical Database

Description: Computer-Aided Management of Emergency 

Operations (CAMEO) has an extensive chemical database with 

critical response information for thousands of chemicals, and a 

tool that tells you what reactions might occur if chemicals were 

mixed together [EPA 2010k]. 

Data Source: CAMEO Chemicals, Version 2.0.1

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 

National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Format: Report

Classification: Environment; Controlling Documents

ECOTOX Database Description: ECOTOX is a comprehensive database, which 

provides information on adverse effects of single chemical 

stressors to ecologically relevant aquatic and terrestrial species. 

ECOTOX includes more than 400,000 test records covering 

5,900 aquatic and terrestrial species and 8,400 chemicals. The 

primary source of ECOTOX data is the peer-reviewed literature, 

with test results identified through comprehensive searches of 

the open literature. ECOTOX also includes third-party data 

collections from U.S. EPA Program Offices, the U.S. Geologic 

Survey, Russia, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation 

and Development (OECD) member nations [EPA 2010l].

Data Source: ECOTOX Release 4.0

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: XLS (Microsoft Excel file format); Delimited ASCII 

file; Report

Classification: Environment; Incidents

Envirofacts Data Warehouse Description: Envirofacts, a single point of access to select U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) environmental data. Its 

website provides access to several EPA databases to provide the 

users with information about environmental activities that may 

affect air, water, and land anywhere in the United States. With 

Envirofacts, the users can generate maps of environmental 

information. Envirofacts provides a feature that allows the user 

to retrieve a sampling of information pertaining to the user’s 

area by entering a specific ZIP Code, City and State, or County 

and State. It also provides more in-depth information about a 

particular subject area, such as Air, Waste, Facility, Land, Toxic 

Releases, Compliance, Water, Radiation, and Other [EPA 

2010m].

Data Source: Envirofacts – MultiSystem Search Form

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)

Classification: Incidents, Environment; Resources; Spatial
47

Environmental Sensitivity Index 

(ESI) Maps 

Description: NOAA’s Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) is 

the most widely used approach to sensitive environment 

mapping in the United States. 

This approach systematically compiles information in standard 

formats for coastal shoreline sensitivity, biological resources, 

and human-use resources. ESI maps are useful for identifying 

sensitive resources before a spill occurs so that protection 

priorities can be established and cleanup strategies designed in 

advance. Using ESIs in spill response reduces environmental 

consequences of the spill and cleanup efforts. ESI maps provide 

a concise summary of coastal resources that are at risk if an oil 

spill occurs nearby. Examples of at-risk resources include 

biological resources (such as birds and shellfish beds), sensitive 

shorelines (such as marshes and tidal flats), and human-use 

resources (such as public beaches and parks) [NOAA 2010d]. 

Data Source: National Ocean Service (NOS) Data Explorer 

Organization: National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA)

Format: MAP; PDF (Portable Document Format); SHP; .E00 

(Arc/Info export format); MOSS; Geo-database

Classification: Environment; Spatial; Resources; Incidents

Global Environment Outlook (GEO) 

Data Portal

Description: The GEO Data Portal is the authoritative source 

for data sets used by United Nations Environment Programme 

(UNEP) and its partners in the Global Environment Outlook 

(GEO) report and other integrated environment assessments. Its 

online database holds more than 450 different variables, as 

national, sub-regional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps), covering themes like Freshwater, 

Population, Forests, Emissions, Climate, Disasters, Health and 

GDP. Data may be displayed on the fly as maps, graphs, data 

tables, or downloaded in different formats [UNEP 2010].

Data Source: Geo Data Portal

Organization: United Nations Environment Programme 

(UNEP)

Format: CSV (comma-separated values); HTML; SHP; PDF 

Classification: Environment; Controlling Documents; 

Demographic and Behavioral; Spatial; Resources

Hazardous Waste Data Description: Hazardous waste data is contained in the Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act Information (RCRAInfo), a 

national program management and inventory system about 

hazardous waste handlers. In general, all generators, 

transporters, treaters, storers, and disposers of hazardous waste 

are required to provide information about their activities to state 

environmental agencies, which is then transmitted to the United 

States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA, in 

cooperation with the States, biennially collects information 

regarding the generation, management, and final disposition of 

hazardous wastes. Collection, validation and verification of the 

Biennial Report (BR) data is the responsibility of RCRA 
48

authorized states and regions [EPA 2010n].

Data Source: RCRAInfo

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: PDF

Classification: Environment; Spatial

Hazards Data Distribution System 

(HDDS) 

Description: Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS) 

provides quick downloads of U.S. and international disaster 

response imagery. Its data access and delivery services are 

provided by the following interfaces: non-graphical download, 

status-graphic download, and map interface. The users can select 

pre-event/baseline or event/disaster response. Users are able to 

obtain full-resolution GeoTIFF images or JPEG images at 

medium and low quality compressions [USGS 2010b].

Data Source: HDDS

Organization: U.S. Geological Survey, Center for Earth 

Resources Observation and Science (EROS)

Format: GeoTIFF; JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), 

CSV; SHP; KML

Classification: Incidents; Spatial; Environment; Simulation 

Support

LandView Description: The LandView database system allows users to 

retrieve Census 2000 demographic and housing data, EPA 

Envirofacts data and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) information. 

The GNIS contains over 1.2 million records which show the 

official federally recognized geographic names for all known 

places, features, and areas in the United States that are identified 

by a proper name [CENSUS 2010].

Data Source: LandView 6

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. 

Census Bureau, and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National 

Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Format: Data; MAP

Classification: Demographic and Behavior; Spatial; 

Environment; Resources

Multi-angle Imaging Spectro 

Radiometer Instrument (MISR) 

Description: The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer 

instrument (MISR) provides radiometrically and geometrically 

calibrated images in four spectral bands at each of the angles. 

MISR measurements are designed to improve our understanding 

of the Earth’s environment and climate. MISR provides new 

types of information for scientists studying Earth’s climate, such 

as the partitioning of energy and carbon between the land 

surface and the atmosphere, and the regional and global impacts 

of different types of atmospheric particles and clouds on climate. 

MISR data are processed and archived at the NASA Langley 

Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) 

[NASA 2010b].

Data Source: ASDC Data Pool
49

Format: HDF-EOS (Hierarchical Data Format- Earth Observing 

System)

Classification: Environment; Spatial

National Response Center (NRC) 

Download Data

Description: The National Response Center (NRC), the federal 

government’s national communications center, is staffed 24 

hours a day by U.S. Coast Guard officers and marine science 

technicians and serves as the sole federal point of contact for 

reporting all hazardous substances and oil spills. The NRC 

maintains reports of all releases and spills in a national database. 

The NRC has made available yearly data files for download and 

offline management. Each file represents a particular calendar 

year and contains data related to incidents that occurred during 

that year. NRC report categories include aircraft report, 

continuous release report, fixed report, mobile report, pipeline 

report, platform report, railroad report, sheen report, storage tank 

report, and vessel report [USCG 2010]. 

Data Source: NRC DOWNLOAD DATA

Organization: National Response Center

Format: XLS; HTML 

Classification: Incidents; Environment; Controlling Documents

Plume Databases Description: The National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration’s plume databases provide plume data such as 

plume source latitude, plume source longitude, plume direction, 

date, orbit number, orbit block, and MISR (Multi-angle Imaging 

Spectro-Radiometer) coordinates [NASA 2010c].

Data Source: Plume Database: 2006-01-19 and 2006-02-06 

Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

(NASA)

Format: CSV

Classification: Environment

Radiation Information Database 

(RADINFO)

Description: The Radiation Information Database (RADINFO) 

contains information about facilities that are regulated by U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for 

radiation and radioactivity. The RADINFO Query allows users 

to retrieve selected data from RADINFO database in 

Envirofacts. Specify the facilities by using any combination of 

facility name, geographic location, standard industrial 

classification, and chemicals. There are two search parameters: 

location data and regulator data [EPA 2010o].

Data Source: RADINFO Query 

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: Record; Table

Classification: Resources; Environment

Storm Prediction Center (SPC) 

Forecast Products

Description: The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) of the National 

Weather Service (NWS) is providing tornado/severe 

thunderstorm watches, meso-scale discussions, convective day 
50

1-3 outlooks, fire weather outlooks, and watch, warning and 

advisory display through Really Simple Syndication (RSS) 

[NOAA 2010e]. 

Data Source: SPC Products RSS Feeds

Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA)

Format: RSS 

Classification: Incidents; Demographic and Behavior

TOXicology Data NETwork 

(TOXNET)

Description: TOXNET (TOXicology data NETwork) is a 

cluster of databases covering toxicology, hazardous chemicals, 

environmental health and related areas. The Toxicology and 

Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) in the 

Division of Specialized Information Services (SIS) of the 

National Library of Medicine (NLM) manages it. Toxicology 

databases include: Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), 

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), International 

Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER), Chemical Carcinogenesis 

Research Information System (CCRIS), Genetic Toxicology 

(GENE-TOX), Toxicology interactive guide (Tox Town), 

Household Products Database, occupational toxicology database 

(Haz-Map), toxic chemicals released on map (TOXMAP), 

Drugs and Lactation (LacMed), and Carcinogenic Potency 

Database (CPDB) [NIH 2010b].

Data Source: TOXNET

Organization: The National Library of Medicine (NLM)

Format: Report; XML 

Classification: Controlling Documents; Demographic and 

Behavior; Environment

Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Description: The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a publicly 

available EPA database that contains information on toxic 

chemical releases and waste management activities reported 

annually by certain industries as well as federal facilities. 

TRI.Net – is a high performance Data Engine for querying the 

Toxics Release Inventory. The tool has capabilities to analyze 

TRI data effectively, by using Ad hoc queries and integrating 

them with mapping technologies. It is highly interactive and 

provides a quick and efficient analytical response. Supports very 

large queries and complex trends [EPA 2010q].

Data Source: Toxics Release Inventory, TRI.NET

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: CSV; MAP

Classification: Environment; Controlling Documents

TRI Explorer Database Description: TRI Explorer is a searchable online database that 

lets users quickly get information about releases and transfers 

and other waste management [EPA 2010r].

Data Source: TRI Explorer, Version 5.02

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: XLS 
51

Classification: Environment

Vulnerable Zone Indicator System 

(VZIS)

Description: The Vulnerable Zone Indicator System (VZIS) 

allows the user to quickly find out if an address of interest to the 

user – the home, place of work, or child’s school – could be 

affected by a chemical accident. VZIS can be used to determine 

whether the address may be in the vulnerable zone of a facility 

that submitted a Risk Management Plan (RMP). Use a street 

address or Latitude & Longitude to submit the request [EPA 

2010s].

Data Source: VZIS

Organization: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Format: EMAIL

Classification: Incidents; Environment

Wireless Information System for 

Emergency Responders (WISER)

Description: WISER is a system designed to assist first 

responders in hazardous material incidents. WISER provides a 

wide range of information on hazardous substances, including 

substance identification support, physical characteristics, human

health information, and containment and suppression advice

[NIH 2010c]. 

Data Source: WISER, Version 4.3; WebWISER; WISER for 

BlackBerry, Version 1.0; WISER for iPhone/iPod touch, 

Version 1.0

Organization: The National Library of Medicine (NLM)

Format: Report

Classification: Incidents; Controlling Documents; Demographic 

and Behavior; Environment

7. Discussion and Recommendations

This section is intended to capture practices and issues relevant to program sponsors, project managers, 

researchers, developers, and implementers of M&S of HMR for homeland security applications. The 

resources presented in section 6 and research, development and implementation experiences are used to

identify the best practices to be followed for future efforts and to provide uncertainties, cautions and 

warnings for use of such applications. Further, the resources in section 6 are compared with the 

information in sections 4 and 5 to identify the unmet needs and requirements. These unmet needs and 

requirements are used to identify and prioritize the research, development, standards, and implementation 

issues that should be addressed going forward. This section hence provides a summary of discussion 

topics and recommendations that are divided into three major areas: 

• Identification of best practices (Section 7.1)

• Uncertainties, cautions and warnings regarding expectations of these models and simulations (Section 

7.2)

• Research, development, standards, and implementation issues that may need to be addressed by the 

research community, program sponsors, and stakeholders to improve the quality and utility of 

hazardous material release models and simulations (Section 7.3)
52

7.1. Best Practices

Best practices are really only effective if a methodology is well defined for a given problem solving 

approach. For example, the LUMAS model shows how learning influences a documented methodology, 

and the link between L and M in the LUMAS model is where best practice is encountered by the user of a 

methodology. Computer models and simulations are tools in a variety of problem solving methodologies 

such as operations research, systems engineering, and management science, where methodology is 

defined as a collection of related processes, methods, and tools. Methodologies evolve as they are used 

by practitioners to address new problems and as new technologies and tools are developed to support 

them. Methodological advances are encouraged by documenting existing methods, processes and tools 

and by updating these periodically based on lessons learned and best practice from practical experience. 

This section will identify recommended approaches and best practices for solving different types of 

hazardous material release modeling problems.

• Utilize implementation techniques that enable fast (near real-time) computation of predictions for 

changing weather conditions or release characteristics

• Provide tools that can be used at the local level for incident management or training purposes

• Use various test methods (inert material releases to validate models)

7.2. Limitations, Cautions and Warnings

This sub-section is intended to highlight and document the limitations associated with M&S applications 

to minimize improper use and highlight potential areas for further development. Typical M&S 

applications require significant effort and hence they should be utilized only when appropriate, i.e., they 

should be considered for complex problems that cannot be addressed using other analytical options. The 

level of detail and specificity achieved by using the most sophisticated models and simulations may not 

be practical or necessary for all HMR scenarios.

M&S and computational science capabilities are continuing to evolve and are providing new insights on 

many complex phenomena. Since an M&S capability simulates reality, it should be critically evaluated to 

ensure that the results are credible for their specific intended use. Evaluation of these capabilities should 

take into account the many factors that affect the quality of the results including the level of 

understanding or knowledge of the issues being addressed and the experience level of model developers. 

For example, model developers must fully understand the problem being addressed and form a conceptual 

model for use as a framework in developing and implementing a computational model. With a clear 

conceptual model in mind, developers have a number of choices to make in generating results from 

computer modeling: 

For applications that are identified as suitable for HMR M&S applications, it should be recognized that 

models provide results with varying levels of error and uncertainty. HMR models are particularly 

susceptible to variations in predicted results due to difficulties in precisely measuring topography and 

weather conditions. Analysts should ensure that decision-makers understand the uncertainties in M&S 

results and other limitations such as the ones listed below.

• What data, knowledge, or theories are available or applicable to address the problem at hand? 

• Is the data, knowledge, or understanding sufficient in both quality and quantity to address the 

problem at hand, or will additional data or observations be required to support development? 

• What is the risk of using erroneous results e.g., will these results be the only input to a decision, or 

will other sources of information be available to support decision making? 

• How can the conceptual model be expressed mathematically? 
53

• What boundary and initial condition should be used? 

• What modeling paradigm would be most appropriate to implement the analysis? 

• Given the developers’ experience, what particular codes would be most suitable for implementing the 

model, considering software, hardware, and other constraints and limitations? 

• Given the code has been developed, have any mistakes or errors been made in completing this or in 

entering the data? 

• Given there are no mistakes or errors found in developing the code or entering the data, are the 

results realistic, and do they make sense? 

• What approach should be used to ensure that model results are correct? 

• How do aleatory and epistemic uncertainties and approximations affect the computational results? 

• Given that everything else is correct, are the results suitable to address the problem at hand? 

• How should the results and associated uncertainty be present for use in decision making? 

• Will data inconsistencies between simulated releases and real incidents may affect the accuracy and 

usability of results?

Analysts and decision makers need to be aware of these sorts of issues when using or when presented 

with M&S results. 

7.3. Research, Development, Standards, and Implementation Issues

A number of research, development, standards, and implementation issues remain to be addressed. An 

initial straw man list follows:

• Identification of appropriate models, simulations, tools, and databases to address HMR needs

• Identification of common models, simulations, tools, and databases that can be shared with the user 

community

• Identification of technical gaps and needs for models, simulations, tools, and databases, e.g., 

increasing accuracy of model predictions, especially in urban environments

• Development of system requirements specifications for HMR models, simulations, tools, and 

databases

• Development of systems dynamics models for addressing strategic issues for different HMR incidents

• Development of mechanisms to enable access to and usage of HMR M&S applications by users in the 

field (non-laboratory personnel), SSAs, partners, and operational personnel

• Development of simulation application architectures to enable modular system construction, software 

re-use, module integration and standard data interfaces to import data from external databases

• Use of a system-of-systems engineering approach to the development of applications

• Use of UML/SysML in specification of HMR M&S applications

• Development of M&S applications as open systems

• Use of object-oriented models in HMR M&S

• Integration of hazardous material release models and simulations with other simulation and training 

applications, e.g., incident management systems

• Establishment of security and protection mechanisms for sensitive data

• Ownership and usage of publicly vs. privately developed models, simulations, tools, and databases

• Return on investment to stakeholders and sponsors for research projects

8. Conclusion

This initial version of the document is the starting point of an effort to capture the current knowledge 

relevant to M&S of HMR for homeland security applications. It identifies the needs, translates them into 
54

requirements and provides summary information on resources available to meet the needs and 

requirements. The information on needs, requirements, and resources is used together with research, 

development, and implementation experiences to distill practices and issues for future efforts.

This version will be used to facilitate input from domain experts in a workshop setting. It is hoped that 

the next version updated with such input will provide value as a reference for program managers, project 

managers, researchers, developers, and implementers of M&S for HMR for homeland security 

applications. Use of the updated document as a common reference may help increase the awareness 

across the associated community and help enhance collaborative efforts for homeland security 

applications of M&S for HMR.

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