Modeling Protocol: Montana Regional Haze Federal 

Implementation Plan (FIP) Support

Contract No: EP-D-07-102

Assignment No: 5-13

Version: 1

Prepared for: Scott Jackson

Work Assignment Manager

U.S. EPA Region 8

Denver, CO 80202

Prepared by: Saravanan Arunachalam

Institute for the Environment

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dennis McNally

Gregory Stella

Alpine Geophysics, LLC

Date due: November 14, 2011
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Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION AND PROTOCOL OBJECTIVES ....................................................................4

1.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 4

2 MODELING APPROACH.................................................................................................................5

2.1 Emission Sources .................................................................................................................................. 5

2.2 Class I Areas............................................................................................................................................ 6

2.3 Pollutants to Consider......................................................................................................................... 7

2.4 Emissions and Stack Data .................................................................................................................. 7

2.5 Natural Background ............................................................................................................................ 7

2.6 Visibility Calculation ........................................................................................................................... 8

3 VISIBILITY MODELING SYSTEM.................................................................................................9

3.1  CALMET....................................................................................................................................................... 9

3.1.1 Meteorological Data ...................................................................................................................................... 11

3.1.2 CALMET Control File Settings ................................................................................................................... 14

3.2 CALPUFF.................................................................................................................................................15

3.2.1 Emissions ........................................................................................................................................................... 15

3.2.2 Ozone Background......................................................................................................................................... 16

3.2.3 Ammonia Background.................................................................................................................................. 16

3.2.4 Receptor Locations ........................................................................................................................................ 16

3.3 CALPOST AND VISIBILITY POST‐PROCESSING..........................................................................16

4 INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS ............................................................................................. 17

5 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................. 18

Appendix A CALMET Parameter Values..................................................................................... 19

Appendix B CALPUFF Parameter Values.................................................................................... 24

Appendix C CALPOST Parameter Values.................................................................................... 32
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List of Figures

Figure 1. Facility Locations in Proximity to Class I Areas............................................................................................ 7

Figure 2: 4km Montana FIP CALMET Modeling Domain. ........................................................................................ 10

Figure 3: Terrain Heights (m) for 4km CALMET Domain. ........................................................................................ 11

Figure 4: Modeled 12 km WRF Domain. .................................................................................................................... 14
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List of Tables

Table 1. MT FIP Sources. .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Table 2. Federal Mandatory Class I Areas in the Modeling Domain. ........................................................................... 6

Table 3. CALPUFF Modeling System........................................................................................................................... 9

Table 4. EPA/ORD WRF Model Configuration.......................................................................................................... 12

Table 5. WRF Vertical Domain Configuration............................................................................................................ 13

Table 6. Upper Air Stations to be used in CALMET Modeling. ................................................................................. 14
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PURPOSE

This Protocol is prepared for the USEPA and describes the application of the CALPUFF Model 

for the Montana regional haze Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). 

1 INTRODUCTION AND PROTOCOL OBJECTIVES

1.1 INTRODUCTION

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 requires environmental consulting 

support services for development of a Regional Haze FIP for the state of Montana. The contract 

shall develop information to be used in the Technical Support Document and/or docket to 

support the FIP. This work assignment shall include air quality dispersion modeling results and 

related documentation.

Work Assignment (WA) 5-13 under EPA Contract Number EP-D-07-102 has three main 

objectives: apply the CALMET meteorological model to provide inputs to the CALPUFF 

modeling; apply the CALPUFF modeling system to estimate the baseline impacts from up to 

eight sources on Class I areas within 300km of the source; and to apply the CALPUFF modeling 

system for up to 80 emissions control cases to assess the air quality impacts of potential control 

measures.

This Modeling Protocol establishes the objectives, modeling configuration and modeling 

approach that are proposed to ensure that the results of the work performed will satisfy the stated 

performance criteria. This document is structured as follows:

• Section 2: Modeling Approach.

• Section 3: Visibility Modeling System.

• Section 4: Interpretation of Results.
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1.2 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this Protocol are to provide:

• A clearly delineated modeling methodology;

• A common CALMET/CALPUFF/POSTUTIL/CALPOST modeling configuration; and

• A common expectation for reporting modeling results.

2 MODELING APPROACH

This section describes the components or information required for the CALPUFF modeling and 

the overall process in determining whether a source is anticipated to cause or contribute to 

visibility impairment to Federal Class I areas. Eligible source criteria, Class I area identification, 

pollutants considered, emissions data required, natural background conditions, visibility 

impairment determination, and the analysis process are covered here.

2.1 Emission Sources

Sources to be evaluated in this protocol include BART-eligible sources that were previously 

modeled and/or determined to be subject-to-BART and sources that EPA has determined to be 

worthwhile to examine from a reasonable progress standpoint. 

The term “BART-eligible emission unit” refers to any single emission unit that meets the 

following criteria:

1) Emits greater than 250 tons/year of a visibility-impairing pollutant;

2) Was put into place between August 7, 1962 and August 7, 1977; and

3) Falls within one of the 26 listed source categories in the guidance.

A “BART-eligible source” is the total of all BART-eligible emission units at a single facility. If 

a source has several emission units, only those that meet the BART-eligible criteria are included 

in the definition of “BART-eligible source.”

Colstrip 3 and 4 are not BART-eligible but are significant sources that EPA has determined 

would be worthwhile to examine.

EPA identified eight BART-eligible facilities shown in Table 1. 
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Table 1. MT FIP Sources.

County Facilities

Rosebud Colstrip Units 1 and 2

Rosebud Colstrip Units 3 and 4

Yellowstone Corette 

Jefferson Ash Grove Cement

Gallatin Holcim Cement

Flathead Columbia Falls Aluminum Corp (CFAC)

2.2 Class I Areas

The mandatory Class I federal areas that are located within 300 km of the MT FIP Sources, are 

presented in Table 2. Refer to Figure 1 below showing the location of the Class I areas in 

relation to MT FIP facilities/sources.

Table 2. Federal Mandatory Class I Areas in the Modeling Domain.

Class I Area Abbreviation Federal Land 

Manager

Facilities within 300 km.

Anaconda Pintler Wilderness Area ANAC2 USFS Ash Grove 

Bob Marshall Wilderness Area BOMA3 USFS Ash Grove, CFAC

Cabinet Mountains Wilderness CAMO2 USFS CFAC

Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area GAMO USFS Corette, Ash Grove, Holcim

Glacier National Park GLAC3 NPS Ash Grove, CFAC

Mission Mountains Wilderness Area MIMO2 USFS Ash Grove, CFAC

North Absaroka Wilderness Area NOAB2 USFS Colstrip, Corette, Ash Grove

Red Rock Lakes Wilderness Area REDRWILD FWS Corette, Ash Grove

Scapegoat Wilderness Area SCAP2 USFS Ash Grove

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness SELW4 USFS Ash Grove

Teton Wilderness Area TETO2 USFS Corette, Ash Grove

Theodore Roosevelt National Park THRO NPS Colstrip

UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge ULBEWILD FWS Colstrip, Corette

Waskakie Wilderness Area WASH3 USFS Colstrip, Corette, Ash Grove

Yellowstone National Park YELL4 NPS Colstrip, Corette, Ash Grove, Holcim
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Figure 1. Facility Locations in Proximity to Class I Areas.

2.3 Pollutants to Consider

The FLAG 2010 guideline specifies that sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and 

direct particulate matter (PM) emissions, including both PM10 and PM2.5 should be included for 

the modeling analyses. 

2.4 Emissions and Stack Data

The emissions and stack data for the previously identified sources (Table 1) will be supplied by 

EPA. EPA will follow the methodology outlined in the BART Modeling Guidelines. For the 

Electric Generating Units the emissions will be based on the 2010 24-hour average maximum 

emission rate (exclusive of upset, start-up and shutdown) from EPA Clean Air Markets Division 

(CAMD) Continuous Emissions Monitor (CEM) data.

2.5 Natural Background

The FLAG visibility modeling guidance lists two sets of Natural Conditions corresponding to 

Annual Average, and 20% Best Days. The 20% best natural days will be used, in lieu of annual 

average natural days, to represent natural visibility background in Class I areas. This approach is 

consistent with the previous BART modeling conducted for the sources.
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This definition of natural background is consistent with the intent of the BART Guideline 

(Federal Register Vol. 70, No. 128, pg 39125). The specific natural background values used in 

this protocol are drawn from the Federal Land Managers’ Air Quality Related Values 

Workgroup (FLAG) Phase I Report – Revised (FLAG, 2010). Class I specific background 

extinction coefficients are presented in Appendix C.

2.6 Visibility Calculation

The CALPUFF modeling techniques presented in this protocol will provide ground level 

concentrations of visibility impairing pollutants. The concentration estimates from CALPUFF 

are used with the FLAG referenced IMPROVE equation to calculate the extinction coefficient 

(bext), as shown below. 

bext = 2.2 × fS(RH) × [Small Sulfate] + 4.8 × fL(RH) × [Large Sulfate] 

• 2.4 × fS(RH) × [Small Nitrate] + 5.1 × fL(RH) × [Large Nitrate] 

• 2.8 × [Small Organic Mass] + 6.1 × [Large Organic Mass] 

• 10 × [Elemental Carbon] 

• 1 × [Fine Soil] 

• 0.6 × [Coarse Mass] 

• 1.7 × fSS(RH) × [Sea Salt]

• Rayleigh Scattering (Site Specific) 

• 0.33 × [NO2 (ppb)] {or as: 0.1755 × [NO2 (μg/m3)]} 

Where: 

[ ] indicates concentrations in μg/m3 

fS(RH) = Relative humidity adjustment factor for small sulfate and nitrate 

fL(RH) = Relative humidity adjustment factor for large sulfate and nitrate 

fSS(RH) = Relative humidity adjustment factor for sea salt 

For Total Sulfate < 20 μg/m3: 

[Large Sulfate] = ([Total Sulfate] / 20 μg/m3) × [Total Sulfate] 

For Total Sulfate ≥ 20 μg/m3: 

[Large Sulfate] = [Total Sulfate] 

And: 

[Small Sulfate] = [Total Sulfate] – [Large Sulfate] 

To calculate large and small nitrate and organic mass, substitute ({Large, Small, Total} 

{Nitrate, Organic Mass}) for Sulfate. 

The monthly relative humidity adjustment factors from the above equation are found in 

Appendix C.

The change in visibility for the Subject-to-BART and RP prioritization analyses will be 

compared against the 20% best natural background conditions. The delta-deciview, Δdv, value is 

calculated from the source’s contribution to extinction, bext (source), and background extinction, 

bext(bkg), as follows:

Δdv = 10 ln (bext(bkg)+bext (source)) / bext(bkg) )
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3 VISIBILITY MODELING SYSTEM

In general, the visibility impact model modeling will use the CALPUFF suite of programs, and

will follow the procedures and recommendations outlined in two documents: the IWAQM 

(Interagency Workgroup on Air Quality Models) and the FLAG (Federal Land Managers Air 

Quality Related Values Workgroup) reports (EPA 1998, FLAG 2010). Tables listing the 

modeling parameters for each CALPUFF module are located in the Appendices. 

The specific CALPUFF programs and their version numbers that will be used in both the 

Subject-to-BART/RP prioritization modeling are presented in Table 3. The CALPUFF modeling 

system is the regulatory approved versions except for the CALPOST processor. CALPOST 

version 6.221 will be used to enable this application to use the most up-to-date FLAG (6-29-

2008) guidance. The CALMET model will be run using the August 20, 2009, “EPA-FLM 

Recommended CALMET input File Values.”

Table 3. CALPUFF Modeling System

Program Version Level

CALMET 5.8 060911

CALPUFF 5.8 060911

CALPOST 6.221 080724

POSTUTIL 1.56 070627

3.1 CALMET

Input requirements for the CALMET model include various meteorological and geophysical data 

sets, and a control input file with appropriate settings. Required meteorological data include 

surface, upper-air, and precipitation observations, and mesoscale model output data fields. 

Specifics of these data are provided below.

Geophysical input data include terrain elevation and land-use data. Though CALMET may be 

run with mesoscale model meteorological data, alone (i.e., no observations), the EPA modeling 

guideline recommends “blending” observations with the mesoscale model fields. Therefore, we 

will include observations in a blended approach. 

The dispersion modeling will use CALMET wind fields for the calendar year 2006-2008. A

minimum of three years of mesoscale meteorological model output is recommended for 

conducting the initial step in the first-level analysis. The CALMET wind fields will cover the 

analyzed sources and sufficiently encompass Class I areas within 300km of any facility included 

in this analysis. The 4km CALMET meteorological domain covers all of Montana and 

significant portions of Idaho, Wyoming, North and South Dakota and is shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2: 4km Montana FIP CALMET Modeling Domain.

Land Use Processing: CALMET requires both land use/land cover and terrain height data for 

the application region. These are generated using the CALMET CTGPROC, TERREL and 

MAKEGEO as described below.

• TERREL is the terrain pre-processor that averages terrain features to the modeling grid 

resolution; TERREL constructs the basic properties of the gridded domain and defines 

the coordinates upon which meteorological data are stored. Key parameters include 

specification of grid type, location, resolution and terrain elevation. 

• CTGPROC computes the fractional land use for the modeling grid resolution. Land use 

characteristics for each grid cell are assigned using CTGPROC. The primary variable 

adjustment associated with CTGRPOC is selection of an appropriate land use database. 

Version 2.0 of the North American Land Cover Characteristics database will be used. 

• MAKEGEO is the final pre-processor that combines the terrain and land use data for 

input to CALMET. Generating the appropriate MAKEGEO.INP control file requires 

only minimal alteration of the default assignments. Key modifications include specifying 

domain attributes and ensuring input files are correctly referenced.

Terrain: CALMET requires both terrain height and land use/land cover for the application 

region. These are generated using the CALMET CTGPROC, TERREL and MAKEGEO 

processors. The terrain data will be created using the TERREL (version 3.684 level 070327) 

processor and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)-GTOPO 30 second (~1 km) 

resolution dataset. This domain will require the w100n40, w100n90 and w140n40 tiles. Terrain 

heights are shown in Figure 3.
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Figure 3: Terrain Heights (m) for 4km CALMET Domain.

Land Use: The land use data set was created using the Composite Theme Grid CTGROC 

processor (version 2.682, level 070430) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Global 

Land Cover Characterization (GLCC) version 2.0 database. The GLCC database is available at 

30 second (~1km) resolution. 

Observed Data Processing: Observation data from both available surface and upper-air stations 

in the modeling will be used. The surface data will be taken from the NOAA Techniques 

Development Lab (TDL) database and the upper-air data from the NOAA Forecast Systems Lab 

(FSL) database.

CALMET Model Options: The options used in the CALMM5 processing will generally follow 

the FLAG (FLAG, 2008) and IWAQM (EPA, 1998) guidance. Specific CALMET input values 

will be updated using the August 28, 2009, “EPA-FLM Recommended Input File Values.” 

3.1.1 Meteorological Data

3.1.1.1 Mesoscale Model Data

The EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) 12km national mesocale model results 

will be used to provide the mesoscale model inputs to CALMET. ORD used Weather Research 

and Forecasting (WRF) (Skamarock, 2005; Skamarock, 2006) model with options in Table 4 for 

a very large continental scale grid with 472 columns and 312 rows. The vertical structure used in 

the WRF modeling is presented in Table 5.
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Table 4. EPA/ORD WRF Model Configuration.

Physics Parameterization

Microphysics Morrison

Longwave Radiation RRTMG

Shortwave Radiation RRTMG

Surface Layer Pleim

Land Surface Pleim-Xiu

Boundary-Layer ACM2

Cumulus Kain-Fritsch 2

3.1.1.2 CALWRF Processing

The final step in the meteorological processing is to reformat the WRF data using the CALWRF 

processor. CALWRF (version 1.4 level 100322) will be run for the 12km WRF grid to extract 

the whole region, less a few grid cells around the perimeter that are suspect due to WRF

boundary artifacts.
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Table 5. WRF Vertical Domain Configuration..

k(WRF) sigma pressure.(mb) height(m) depth(m)

34 0.000 10000 15674 2004

33 0.050 14500 13670 1585

32 0.100 19000 12085 1321

31 0.150 23500 10764 1139

30 0.200 28000 9625 1004

29 0.250 32500 8621 900

28 0.300 37000 7720 817

27 0.350 41500 6903 750

26 0.400 46000 6153 693

25 0.450 50500 5461 645

24 0.500 55000 4816 604

23 0.550 59500 4212 568

22 0.600 64000 3644 536

21 0.650 68500 3108 508

20 0.700 73000 2600 388

19 0.740 76600 2212 282

18 0.770 79300 1930 274

17 0.800 82000 1657 178

16 0.820 83800 1478 175

15 0.840 85600 1303 172

14 0.860 87400 1130 169

13 0.880 89200 961 167

12 0.900 91000 794 82

11 0.910 91900 712 82

10 0.920 92800 631 81

9 0.930 93700 550 80

8 0.940 94600 469 80

7 0.950 95500 389 79

6 0.960 96400 310 78

5 0.970 97300 232 78

4 0.980 98200 154 39

3 0.985 98650 115 39

2 0.990 99100 77 38

1 0.995 99550 38 38

0 1.000 100000 0 0
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Figure 4: Modeled 12 km WRF Domain.

3.1.2 CALMET Control File Settings

These CALMET wind fields will be used by analyzed sources within the modeling domain for 

the visibility modeling. Details of the parameter settings in CALMET are provided in Appendix 

A to this document; however, the major assumptions are summarized below. 

1) The initial-guess fields will use the 12-km WRF outputs, forecast from hours 13 – 108 of 

each 5-day run segment, January 2006– December 2008.

2) The CALPUFF modeling will utilize the wind fields at 4km resolution.

3) There will be 10 vertical layers with face heights of 0, 20, 40, 65, 120, 200, 400, 700, 

1200, 2200, and 4000 meters.

4) CALMET will be run using surface and upper air observations. The upper air sites used 

are presented in Table 6. Surface data from approximately 220 surface stations in the 

TDL DS472.0 dataset will also be used.

Table 6. Upper Air Stations to be used in CALMET Modeling.

Site ID WBAN ID Description

GGW 94008 Glasgow, MT

TFX 04102 Great Falls, MT

RIW 24061 Riverton, WY

BOI 24131 Boise, ID

ABR 14929 Aberdeen, SD

UNR 94043 Rapid City, SD

BIS 24011 Bismarck, ND
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3.2 CALPUFF

The CALPUFF modeling will use Version 5.8. This protocol generally follows the 

recommendation of the IWAQM and FLAG guidance documents. Details of the parameter 

settings in CALPUFF are provided in Appendix B to this document; however, the major features 

are summarized below: 

1) The calendar year 2006-2008 CALMET input files will be developed by Alpine 

Geophysics, LLC and be provided as input-ready to CALPUFF.

2) The visibility analysis modeling will examine the visibility impairment on Class I areas 

within 300km of each single source or facility. The computational modeling domain will 

be sufficient to include all Class I areas within a 300km radius of a source.

3) Pasquill-Gifford Dispersion coefficients will be used.

4) MESOPUFF-II chemistry algorithm will be used.

5) Puff splitting will not be used, following the recommendations of the FLMs.

6) Source elevations will be based on the same terrain files as the receptor elevations.

7) The CALUTIL will be used to perform HNO3/NO3 repartitioning using the parameters in 

Appendix B.

CALPUFF will be applied separately for each Class I Area within a 300km radius of a Class 1 

Area. 

3.2.1 Emissions

Section 2.4 above presents the emissions and stack data that is required from the facilities. This 

section only discusses the emissions estimates needed in CALPUFF. 

Primary emission species will include available input species of PM, SO2, and NOx; and the 

additional modeled species HNO3 and NO3. 

The primary PM species will be treated as follows:

Filterable:

Elemental Carbon (EC) (<2.5 μm)

PM Fine (PMF) (<2.5 μm)

PM Coarse (PMC) (2.5 – 10 μm)

Condensable:

Organic Carbon (SOA)

Inorganic Aerosol (SO4)

The condensable fraction will be treated as primary emissions in the CALPUFF input file and 

assumed to be 100% in the PM2.5 fraction.
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Facility specific speciation emissions data will be used when provided. If the size fraction is not 

known, the following size distributions will be used in CALPUFF:

Pollutant Mean diameter Standard deviation 

SO4, NO3, PMF, SOA, EC 0.48 2

PMC 2.5 5

The default values are based on information in the CALPUFF User’s Guide, CALPUFF GUI, 

and AP-42.

CALPUFF modeling will be conducted for each facility using the base line emissions levels, and 

up to 10 different emissions control scenarios for each source. The emissions for the base line 

and control scenarios will be supplied by EPA.

3.2.2 Ozone Background

Background ozone will be assumed at an annual constant level of 40 ppb.

3.2.3 Ammonia Background

The IWAQM recommendation for forests (0.5 ppb) will be used.

3.2.4 Receptor Locations

Predicted visibility impacts will be computed at a set of gridded receptor locations for the Class I 

Areas within the domain. These data are available for download from the National Park Service 

Web site http://www2.nature.nps.gov/air/Maps/Receptors/index.cfm, Source and receptor elevations 

will be based on actual elevations. The elevations for the grid points will be taken from the 

CALMET modeling. 

3.3 CALPOST AND VISIBILITY POST-PROCESSING

The CALPOST processing will use Version 6.221 and POSTUTIL Version 1.56. Details of the 

parameter settings in CALPOST and POSTUTIL are provided in Appendix C, with some of the 

major features summarized below for calculating visibility impairment: 

1) For the visibility calculation, Method 8, Mode 5 (MVISBK=8, M8_MODE=5) will be 

employed. This method uses monthly average relative humidity and f(RH) values for 

each Class I area, which are based on data from FLAG (FLAG 2010).

2) Particulate species for the visibility analysis will include SO4, NO3, EC, OC, PMF, and 

PMC, as reported in the CALPOST output files.

3) POSTUTIL will not be used to speciate modeled PM10 concentrations, as PM10 is 

speciated into its components (PMF, PMC, SOA, EC, SO4) and entered as primary 
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emissions in CALPUFF. However, HNO3/NO3 partition option in POSTUTIL will be 

used 

4) Natural background extinction calculations will use the 20% best natural days for each 

Class I area in the modeling domain. Tables providing the monthly f(RH) and 20% best 

days coefficients are provided in Appendix C, and are based on data from FLAG (FLAG 

2010).

5) Impact will be summarized separately for each of the three meteorological years.

6) The contribution threshold has the implied level of precision equal to the level of 

precision reported by CALPOST. Therefore, the 98th percentile value will be reported to 

three decimal places.

4 INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

The change in visibility impairment for the visibility modeling is based on the increase in the 

haze index from a source relative to natural background, defined as the 20% best natural 

visibility days for each Class I area. This definition of natural background is consistent with the 

intent of the BART Guideline (Federal Register Vol. 70, No. 128, pg 39125). 

Tables of impacts will be calculated separately for each year for each sources impact on the 

Class I areas within 300km. The following metrics will be used

:

• Days with impacts greater than 0.5 Δdv

• Days with impacts greater than 1.0 Δdv

• The 98th percentile Δdv value

Additionally, if the simulation is a control simulation for a specific source, the additional metric 

of the 98th percentile Δdv improvement (defined as the difference in 98th percentile Δdv of the 

base case minus the 98th percentile Δdv of the control case) will also be computed and tabulated.
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5 REFERENCES

40 CFR Part 51, Appendix W. Guidelines on Air Quality Models

EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 1998. Interagency Workgroup on Air Quality 

Modeling (IWAQM) Phase 2 Summary Report and Recommendations for Modeling Long Range 

Transport Impacts, EPA-454/R-98-019, December 1998.

EPA 2003. Guidance for Estimating Natural Visibility Conditions under the Regional Haze 

Rule, EPA-454/B-03-005, September, 2003.

EPA, 2009. EPA-FLM CALMET Configuration, August 28, 2009. 

http://www.epa.gov/scram001/CALMET%20CLARIFICATION.pdf

Federal Register, Vol. 70, No. 128. Regional Haze Regulations and Guidelines for Best 

Available Retrofit Technology (BART) Determinations. pp. 39104 – 30172, July 6, 2005.

FLAG 2010. Federal Land Managers’ Air Quality Related Values Workgroup (FLAG) 2008. 

Phase I Report—Revised (2010).

Skamarock, W. C. 2004. Evaluating Mesoscale NWP Models Using Kinetic Energy Spectra. 

Mon. Wea. Rev., Volume 132, pp. 3019-3032. December. 

(http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/individual/skamarock/spectra_mwr_2004.pdf

Skamarock, W. C., J. B. Klemp, J. Dudhia, D. O. Gill, D. M. Barker, W. Wang and J. G. Powers. 

2005. A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 2. National Center for 

Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO. June. 

(http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/docs/arw_v2.pdf)
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Appendix A CALMET Parameter Values
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Table A-1. CALMET Parameter Values 

The CALMET model will be run using the August 20, 2009, “EPA-FLM Recommended 

CALMET input File Values.”

Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

0 DIADAT Input file: preprocessed surface temperature data (DIAG.DAT) User Defined

0 GEODAT Input file: Geophysical data (GEO.DAT) User Defined User Define

0 LCFILES Convert file name to lower case User Defined

0 METDAT Output file (CALMET.DAT) User Defined

0 METLST Output file (CALMET.LST) User Defined

0 MM4DAT Input file: MM4 data (MM4.DAT) User Defined

0 NOWSTA Input files: Names of NOWSTA overwater stations User Defined

0 NUSTA Number of upper air data sites User Defined 7

0 PACDAT Output file: in Mesopuff II format (PACOUT.DAT) User Defined

0 PRCDAT Input file: Precipitation data (PRECIP.DAT) User Defined

0 PRGDAT Input file: CSUMM prognostic wind data (PROG.DAT) User Defined

0 SEADAT Input files: Names of NOWSTA overwater stations (SEAn.DAT) User Defined

0 SRFDAT Input file: Surface data (SURF.DAT) User Defined

0 TSTFRD Output file (TEST.FRD) User Defined

0 TSTKIN Output file (TEST.KIN) User Defined

0 TSTOUT Output file (TEST.OUT) User Defined

0 TSTPRT Output file (TEST.PRT) User Defined

0 TSTSLP Output file (TEST.SLP) User Defined

0 UPDAT Input files: Names of NUSTA upper air data files (UPn.DAT) UPn.DAT

0 WTDAT Input file: Terrain weighting factors (WT.DAT) User Defined

1 CLDDAT Input file: Cloud data (CLOUD.DAT) User Defined Not used

1 IBDY Beginning day User Defined

1 IBHR Beginning hour User Defined

1 IBMO Beginning month User Defined

1 IBTZ Base time zone User Defined 0

1 IBYR Beginning year User Defined

1 IRLG Number of hours to simulate User Defined User Define

1 IRTYPE Output file type to create (must be 1 for CALPUFF) 1 1

1 ITEST Flag to stop run after Setup Phase 2 2

1 LCALGRD Are w-components and temperature needed? T T

1 MREG Text to options to conrim they conform to regulatory options User Defined 1

2 PMAP Map Projection UTM LCC

2 FEAST False easting at the projection origin 0.0 0.0

2 FNORTH False northing at the projection origin 0.0 0.0

2 DATUM WGS-G, NWS-27, NWS-84, ESR-S,... WGS-G

2 DGRIDKM Grid spacing User Defined 4

2 UTMHEM Hemisphere for UTM projection N N

2 IUTMZN UTM Zone User Defined User Define

2 LLCONF

When using Lambert Conformal map coordinates - rotate winds 

from true north to map north? F F

2 NX Number of east-west grid cells User Defined 380

2 NY Number of north-south grid cells User Defined 240

2 NZ Number of vertical layers User Defined 10

2 RLAT0 Latitude used if LLCONF = T User Defined 40.0N

2 RLON0 Longitude used if LLCONF = T User Defined 97.0W

2 XLAT1 Latitude of 1st standard parallel User Defined 33

2 XLAT2 Latitude of 2nd standard parallel User Defined 45

2 XORIGKM Southwest grid cell X coordinate User Defined -1680

2 YORIGKM Southwest grid cell Y coordinate User Defined -336

2 ZFACE Vertical cell face heights (NZ+1 values) User Defined 0,20,40,80,160,320,640,
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Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

1200,2000,3000,4000

3 IFORMO Format of unformatted file (1 for CALPUFF) 1 1

3 LSAVE Save met. data fields in an unformatted file? T T

4 ICLOUD Is cloud data to be input as gridded fields? (0 = No) 0 0

4 IFORMC Format of cloud data (2 = formatted) 2 2

4 IFORMP Format of precipitation data (2 = formatted) 2 2

4 IFORMS Format of surface data (2 = formatted) 2 2

4 NOOBS Use or non-use of surface, overwater, upper observations User Defined 0

4 NPSTA Number of stations in PRECIP.DAT User Defined 219

4 NSSTA Number of stations in SURF.DAT file User Defined 219

5 ALPHA Empirical factor triggering kinematic effects 0.1 0.1

5 BIAS Surface/upper-air weighting factors (NZ values) NZ*0 NZ*0

5 CRITFN Critical Froude number 1 1

5 DIVLIM Maximum acceptable divergence 5.00E-06 5.00E-06

5 FEXTR2 Multiplicative scaling factor for extrap surface obs to uppr layrs NZ*0.0 NZ*0.0

5 ICALM Extrapolate surface calms to upper layers? (0 = No) 0 0

5 IDIOPT1 Compute temperatures from observations (0 = True) 0 0

5 IDIOPT2 Compute domain-average lapse rates? (0 = True) 0 0

5 IDIOPT3 Compute internally inital guess winds? (0 = True) 0 0

5 IDIOPT4 Read surface winds from SURF.DAT? ( 0 = True) 0 0

5 IDIOPT5 Read aloft winds from UPn.DAT? (0 = True) 0 0

5 IEXTRP

Extrapolate surface winds to upper layers? (-4 = use similarity 

theory and ignore layer 1 of upper air station data) -4 -4

5 IFRADJ Adjust winds using Froude number effects? (1 = Yes) 1 1

5 IKINE Adjust winds using kinematic effects? (1 = Yes) 0 0

5 IOBR Use O’Brien procedure for vertical winds? (0 = No) 0 0

5 IPROG Using prognostic or MM-FDDA data? (0 = No) 0 14

5 ISLOPE Compute slope flows? (1 = Yes) 1 1

5 ISTEPPG Timestep (hours) of the prognostic model input data 1 1

5 ISURFT

Surface station to use for surface temperature (between 1 and 

NSSTA) User Defined 9

5 IUPT Station for lapse rates (between 1 and NUSTA) User Defined 1

5 IUPWND

Upper air station for domain winds (-1 = 1/r**2 interpolation of all 

stations) -1 -1

5 IWFCOD Generate winds by diagnostic wind module? (1 = Yes) 1 1

5 KBAR Level (1 to NZ) up to which barriers apply NZ 10

5 LLBREZE Use Lake Breeze module F F

5 LVARY Use varying radius to develop surface winds? F F

5 METBXID Station IDs in the region User Defined

5 NBAR Number of Barriers to interpolation User Defined 0

5 NBOX Number of Lake Breeze regions User Defined 0

5 NINTR2 Max number of stations for interpolations (NA values) 99 99

5 NITER Max number of passes in divergence minimization 50 50

5 NLB Number of stations in region User Defined 0

5 NSMTH Number of passes in smoothing (NZ values) 2, 4*(NZ-1) 2,4*(NZ-1)

5 R1 Relative weight at surface of Step 1 field and obs User Defined 50

5 R2 Relative weight aloft of Step 1 field and obs User Defined 100

5 RMAX1 Max surface over-land extrapolation radius (km) User Defined 100

5 RMAX2 Max aloft over-land extrapolation radius (km) User Defined 200

5 RMAX3 Maximum over-water extrapolation radius (km) User Defined 200

5 RMIN Minimum extrapolation radius (km) 0.1 0.1

5 RMIN2

Distance (km) around an upper air site where vertical extrapolation 

is excluded (Set to -1 if IEXTRP = ±4) 4 -1
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Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

5 RPROG Weighting factor for CSUMM prognostic wind data User Defined 0

5 TERRAD Radius of influence of terrain features (km) User Defined 15

5 XBBAR X coordinate of Beginning of each barrier User Defined 0

5 XBCST X Point defining the coastline (staight line) User Defined 0

5 XEBAR X coordinate of Ending of each barrier User Defined 0

5 XECST X Point User Defined 0

5 XG1 X Grid line 1 defining region of interest User Defined 0

5 XG2 X Grid line 2 User Defined 0

5 YBBAR Y coordinate of Beginning of each barrier User Defined 0

5 YBCST Y Point User Defined 0

5 YEBAR Y coordinate of Ending of each barrier User Defined 0

5 YECST Y Point User Defined 0

5 YG1 Y Grid line 1 User Defined 0

5 YG2 Y Grid Line 2 User Defined 0

5 ZUPT Depth of domain-average lapse rate (m) 200 200

5 ZUPWND Bottom and top of layer for 1st guess winds (m) 1, 1000 1.,1000.

6 CONSTB Neutral mixing height B constant 1.41 1.41

6 CONSTE Convective mixing height E constant 0.15 0.15

6 CONSTN Stable mixing height N constant 2400 2400

6 CONSTW Over-water mixing height W constant 0.16 0.16

6 CUTP Minimum cut off precip rate (mm/hr) 0.01 0.01

6 DPTMIN Minimum capping potential temperature lapse rate 0.001 0.001

6 DSHELF Coastal/shallow water length scale 0 0

6 DZZI Depth for computing capping lapse rate (m) 200 200

6 FCORIOL Absolute value of Coriolis parameter 1.00E-04 1.00E-04

6 HAFANG Half-angle for looking upwind (degrees) 30 30

6 IAVET Conduct spatial averaging of temperature? (1 = True) 1 1

6 IAVEZI Spatial averaging of mixing heights? (1 = True) 1 1

6 ICOARE Overwater surface fluxes method and parameters 10 0

6 ICOOL COARE cool skin layer computation 0 0

6 ILEVZI Layer to use in upwind averaging (between 1 and NZ) 1 1

6 ILUOC3D Land use category ocean in 3D.DAT datasets 16 16

6 IMIXH Method to compute the convective mixing height -1 -1

6 IRAD Form of temperature interpolation (1 = 1/r) 1 1

6 IRHPROG 3D relative humidity from observations or from prognostic data 0 1

6 ITPROG 3D temps from obs or from prognostic data? 0 2

6 ITWPROG

Option for overwater lapse rates used in convective mixing height 

growth 0 0

6 IWARM COARE warm layer computation 0 0

6 JWAT1 Beginning landuse type defining water 999 55

6 JWAT2 Ending landuse type defining water 999 55

6 MNMDAV Max averaging radius (number of grid cells) 1 1

6 NFLAGP Method for precipitation interpolation (2 = 1/r**2) 2 2

6 NUMTS Max number of stations in temperature interpolations 5 5

6 SIGMAP Precip radius for interpolations (km) 100 100

6 TGDEFA Default over-water capping lapse rate (K/m) -0.0045 -0.0045

6 TGDEFB Default over-water mixed layer lapse rate (K/m) -0.0098 -0.0098

6 THRESHL

Threshold buoyancy flux required to sustain convective mixing 

height growth overland 0.05 0.0

6 THRESHW

Threshold buoyancy flux required to sustain convective mixing 

height growth overwater 0.05 0.05

6 TRADKM Radius of temperature interpolation (km) 500 500

6 ZIMAX Maximum over-land mixing height (m) 3000 3000

6 ZIMAXW Maximum over-water mixing heigh (m) 3000 3000
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Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

6 ZIMIN Minimum over-land mixing height (m) 50 50

6 ZIMINW Minimum over-water mixing height (m) 50 50
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Appendix B CALPUFF Parameter Values
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Table B-1. CALPUFF Parameter Values

CALPUFF input settings.

Input 

Group

Group 

Description Variable Description Default Valuea Recommended Value

1 Run Control METRUN Do we run all periods (1) or a subset (0)? 0 0

1 IBYR Beginning year User Defined 2005

1 IBMO Beginning month User Defined 1

1 IBDY Beginning day User Defined 1

1 IBHR Beginning hour User Defined 1

1 IRLG Length of run (hours) User Defined 8760 or 8784

1 XBTZ Base Time Zone User Defined 0

1 NSECDT Length of modeling time step (seconds) 3600 3600

1 NSPEC

Number of species modeled (for MESOPUFF II 

chemistry) 5 10

1 NSE Number of species emitted 3 10

1 ITEST Flag to stop run after Setup Phase 2 2

1 MRESTART 

Restart options (0 = no restart) allows splitting runs 

into smaller segments 0 0

1 NRESPD Number of periods in Restart 0 0

1 METFM 

Format of input meteorology (1 = CALMET, 2 = 

ISC) 1 1

1 AVET

Averaging time lateral dispersion parameters 

(minutes) 60 60

1 PGTIME PG Averaging time 60 60

2 Tech Options MGAUSS Near-field vertical distribution (1 = Gaussian) 1 1

2 MCTADJ Terrain adjustments to plume path (3 = Plume path) 3 3

2 MCTSG 

Do we have subgrid hills? (0 = No) allows CTDMlike treatment for subgrid scale hills 0 0

2 MSLUG Near-field puff treatment (0 = No slugs) 0 0

2 MTRANS Model transitional plume rise? (1 = Yes) 1 1

2 MTIP Treat stack tip downwash? (1 = Yes) 1 1

2 MBDW Method to simulate downwash (1=ISC,2=PRIME) Not used

2 MSHEAR Treat vertical wind shear? (0 = No) 0 0

2 MSPLIT Allow puffs to split? (0 = No) 0 0

2 MCHEM MESOPUFF-II Chemistry? (1 = Yes) 1 1
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Input 

Group

Group 

Description Variable Description Default Valuea Recommended Value

2 MAQCHEM Aqueous phase transformation 0 0

2 MWET Model wet deposition? (1 = Yes) 1 1

2 MDRY Model dry deposition? (1 = Yes) 1 1

2 MTILT Plume Tilt (gravitational settling) 0 0

2 MDISP

Method for dispersion coefficients (2=micromet,3 = 

PG) 3 3

2 MTURBVW

Turbulence characterization? (Only if MDISP = 1 or 

5) 3 3

2 MDISP2 Backup coefficients (Only if MDISP = 1 or 5) 3 3

2 MTAULY Method for Sigma y Lagrangian timescale 0 0

2 MTAUADV

Method for Advective-Decay timescale for 

Turbulence 0 0

2 MCTURB

Method to compute sigma v,w using micromet 

variables 1 1

2 MROUGH Adjust PG for surface roughness? (0 = No) 0 0

2 MPARTL Model partial plume penetration? (0 = No) 1 1

2 MTINV Elevated inversion strength (0 = compute from data) 0 0

2 MPDF Use PDF for convective dispersion? (0 = No) 0 0

2 MSGTIBL

Use TIBL module? (0 = No) allows treatment of 

subgrid scale coastal areas 0 0

2 MBCON Boundary conditions modeled 0 0

2 MFOG Configure for FOG model output 0 0

2 MREG Regulatory default checks? (1 = Yes) 1 1

3 Species List CSPECn

Names of species modeled (for MESOPUFF II must 

be SO2-SO4-NOX-HNO3-NO3) User Defined

SO2,SO4,NOX,HNO3,NO3,

NH3,PMF.PMC,,EC,SOA

3

Specie Names

Manner species will be modeled 

Species,Modeled,Emitted,Dry Deposited,Group

User Defined

SO2,1,1,1,0

SO4,1,0,2,0

NOX,1,1,1,0

HNO3,1,0,1,0

NO3,1,0,2,0

NH3,1,0,1,0

PMF,1,1,2,0

PMC,1,1,2,0

EC,1,1,2,0

SOA,1,1,2,0

3 Specie Groups Grouping of species if any User Defined N/A

3 CGRUP
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Input 

Group

Group 

Description Variable Description Default Valuea Recommended Value

3 CGRUP

4 MapProjection XLAT1 Latitude of 1st standard parallel 33N

4 XLAT2 Latitude of 2nd standard parallel 45N

4 PMAP Map Projection UTM LCC

FEAST False Easting 0.0 0.0

FNORTH False Northing 0.0 0.0

4 DATUM Datum-region WGS-G WGS-G

4 NX Number of east-west grids of input meteorology User Defined 380

4 NY Number of north-south grids of input meteorology User Defined 240

4 NZ Number of vertical layers of input meteorology User Defined 10

4 DGRIDKM Meteorology grid spacing (km) User Defined 4.

4 ZFACE Vertical cell face heights of input meteorology User Defined

0.,20.,40.,80.,160.,320.,640.,

1200.,2000.,3000.,4000.

4 XORIGKM Southwest corner (east-west) of input User Defined meteorology -1608.

4 YORIGIM Southwest corner (north-south) of input User Defined meteorology 336.

4 IUTMZN UTM zone User Defined N/A (17)

4 UTMHEM Hemisphere for UTM Projection N N

4 RLAT0 Latitude of Projection Origin User Defined 40.0N

4 RLON0 Longitude of Projection Origin User Defined 97.0W

4 IBCOMP Southwest X-index of computational domain User Defined 1

4 JBCOMP Southwest Y-index of computational domain User Defined 1

4 IECOMP Northeast X-index of computational domain User Defined 380

4 JECOMP Northeast Y-index of computational domain User Defined 240

4 LSAMP Use gridded receptors? (T = Yes) F F

4 IBSAMP Southwest X-index of receptor grid User Defined

4 JBSAMP Southwest Y-index of receptor grid User Defined

4 IESAMP Northeast X-index of receptor grid User Defined

4 JESAMP Northeast Y-index of receptor grid User Defined

4 MESHDN Gridded recpetor spacing = DGRIDKM/MESHDN 1 1

5 Output Options ICON Output concentrations? (1 = Yes) 1 1

5 IDRY Output dry deposition flux? (1 = Yes) 1 1
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Input 

Group

Group 

Description Variable Description Default Valuea Recommended Value

5 IWET Output west deposition flux? (1 = Yes) 1 1

5 IT2D 2D Temperature 0 0

5 IRHO 2D Density 0 0

5 IVIS Output RH for visibility calculations (1 = Yes) 1 0

5 LCOMPRS Use compression option in output? (T = Yes) T T

5 ICPRT Print concentrations? (0 = No) 0 0

5 IDPRT Print dry deposition fluxes (0 = No) 0 0

5 IWPRT Print wet deposition fluxes (0 = No) 0 0

5 ICFRQ Concentration print interval (1 = hourly) 1 1

5 IDFRQ Dry deposition flux print interval (1 = hourly) 1 1

5 IWFRQ West deposition flux print interval (1 = hourly) 1 1

5 IPRTU

Print output units (1 = g/m**3; g/m**2/s; 3 = 

ug/m3, ug/m2/s) 1 3

5 IMESG Status messages to screen? (1 = Yes) 1 2

5 LDEBUG Turn on debug tracking? (F = No) F F

5 IPFDEB First puff to track 1 1

5 NPFDEB (Number of puffs to track) (1) 1

5 NN1 (Met. Period to start output) (1) 1

5 NN2 (Met. Period to end output) (10) 10

7

Dry Dep Chem Dry Gas Dep Chemical parameters of gaseous deposition

Species,Diffusivity,Alpha 

Star,Reactivity,Mesophyll,Henry’s User Defined

SO2,0.1509,1000.,8.,0.,0.04

NOX,0.1656,1.,8,.5.,3.5

HNO3,0.1628,1.,18.,0.,8E-8

NH3,0.234,0.2,4.,0.,3.59E-4

8

Dry Dep Size Dry Part. Dep

Chemical parameters of particulate deposition 

Species,Mass Mean Diameter,Geometric Std D User Defined

SO4,0.48.,2.,

NO3,0.48,2.,

PMF,10.,0.,

PMC,2.5,0.,

EC,0.48,2.0

SOA,0.48,2.0

9

Dry Dep Misc RCUTR Reference cuticle resistance (s/cm) 

30 30

9 RGR Reference ground resistance (s/cm) 10 10

9 REACTR Reference reactivity 8 8

9 NINT Number of particle-size intervals 9 9

9 IVEG

Vegetative state (1 = active and unstressed; 2=active 

and stressed) 1 1

10 Wet Dep Wet Dep Wet deposition parameters User Defined SO2,3.0E-05,0.
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Input 

Group

Group 

Description Variable Description Default Valuea Recommended Value

Species, Liquid Precip, Frozen Precip

SO4,1.0E-04,3.0E-05

NOX,0.,0.

HNO3,6.0E-05,0.0

NO3,1.0E-04,3.0E-05

NH3,8.0E-05,0.0

PMF,1.0E-04,3.0E-05

PMC,1.0E-04,3.0E-05

EC,1.0E-04,3.0E-05

SOA,1.0E-04,3.0E-05

11

Chemistry MOZ Ozone background? (0 = constant background 

value; 1 = read from ozone.dat) 1 0

11 BCKO3 Ozone default (ppb) (Use only for missing data) 80. 12*40.

11 BCKNH3 Ammonia background (ppb) 10 0.5

11 RNITE1 Nighttime SO2 loss rate (%/hr) 0.2 0.2

11 RNITE2 Nighttime NOx loss rate (%/hr) 2 2

11 RNITE3 Nighttime HNO3 loss rate (%/hr) 2 2

11 MH2O2 H2O2 data input option 1 1

11 BCKH2O2 Monthly H2O2 concentrations 1 not used

BKPMF Fine particulate concentration 12 * 1.00 not used

OFRAC Organic fraction of Fine Particulate 2*0.15, 9*0.20, 1*0.15 not used

VCNX VOC / NOX ratio 12 * 50.00 not used

12 Dispersion SYTDEP Horizontal size (m) to switch to time dependence 550 550

12 MHFTSZ Use Heffter for vertical dispersion? (0 = No) 0 0

12 JSUP PG Stability class above mixed layer 5 5

12 CONK1 Stable dispersion constant (Eq 2.7-3) 0.01 0.01

12 CONK2 Neutral dispersion constant (Eq 2.7-4) 0.1 0.1

12 TBD Transition for downwash algorithms (0.5 = ISC) 0.5 0.5

12 IURB1 Beginning urban landuse type 10 10

12 IURB2 Ending urban landuse type 19 19

12 ILANDUIN Land use type (20 = Unirrigated agricultural land) 20 20

12 ZOIN Roughness length (m) 0.25 0.25

12 XLAIIN Leaf area index 3.0 3.0

12 ELEVIN Met. Station elevation (m above MSL) 0.0 0.0

12 XLATIN Met. Station North latitude (degrees) -999.0 -999.0

12 XLONIN Met. Station West longitude (degrees) -999.0 -999.0

12 ANEMHT Anemometer height of ISC meteorological data (m) 10.0 10.0
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Input 

Group

Group 

Description Variable Description Default Valuea Recommended Value

12 ISIGMAV Lateral turbulence (Not used with ISC meteorology) 1 1

12 IMIXCTDM Mixing heights (Not used with ISC meteorology) 0 0

12 XMXLEN Maximum slug length in units of DGRIDKM 1.0 1.0

12 XSAMLEN

Maximum puff travel distance per sampling step 

(units of DGRIDKM) 1.0 1.0

12 MXNEW Maximum number of puffs per hour 99 99

12 MXSAM Maximum sampling steps per hour 99 99

12 NCOUNT

Iterations when computing Transport Wind (Calmet 

& Profile Winds) 2 2

12 SYMIN Minimum lateral dispersion of new puff (m) 1.0 1.0

12 SZMIN Minimum vertical dispersion of new puff (m) 1.0 1.0

12 SVMIN Array of minimum lateral turbulence (m/s) 6 * 0.50,6*0.37 6 * 0.50, 6*0.50

12 SWMIN Array of minimum vertical turbulence (m/s) 

2*(0.20,0.12,0.08,0.06,0.03,

0.016)

2*(0.20,0.12,0.08,0.06,0.03,

0.016)

12 CDIV (1), (2) Divergence criterion for dw/dz (1/s) 0.0,0.0 0.0,0.0

12 WSCALM Minimum non-calm wind speed (m/s) 0.5 0.5

12 XMAXZI Maximum mixing height (m) 3000 3000

12 XMINZI Minimum mixing height (m) 50 50

12 WSCAT Upper bounds 1st 5 wind speed classes (m/s) 1.54,3.09,5.14,8. 23,10.8 1.54,3.09,5.14,8. 23,10.8

12 PLX0 Wind speed power-law exponents 0.07,0.07,0.10,0.15,0.35,0.55 0.07,0.07,0.10,0.15,0.35,0.55

12 PTGO

Potential temperature gradients PG E and F 

(deg/km) 0.020,0.035 0.020,0.035 

12 PPC Plume path coefficients (only if MCTADJ = 3) 0.5,0.5,0.5,0.5,0.35,0.35 0.5,0.5,0.5,0.5,0.35,0.35

12 SL2PF Maximum Sy/puff length 10.0 10.0

12 NSPLIT Number of puffs when puffs split 3 3

12 IRESPLIT Hours when puff are eligible to split Hour 17=1 Hour17=1

12 ZISPLIT Previous hour’s mixing height(minimum)(m) 100.0 100.0

12 ROLDMAX

Previous Max mix ht/current mix ht ratio must be 

less then this value for puff to split 0.25 0.25

12 NSPLITH Number of puffs when puffs split horizontally 5 5
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Input 

Group

Group 

Description Variable Description Default Valuea Recommended Value

12 SYSPLITH

Min sigma-y (grid cell units) of puff before horiz 

split 1.0 1.0

12 12 SHSPLITH

Min puff elongation rate per hr from wind shear 

before horiz split 2.0 2.0

12 CNSPLITH Min conc g/m3 before puff may split horizontally 1.0E-07 1.0E-07

12 EPSSLUG Convergence criterion for slug sampling integration 1.00E-04 1.00E-04

12 EPSAREA Convergence criterion for area source integration 1.00E-06 1.00E-06

12 DSRISE Step length for rise integration 1.0 1.0

12 HTMINBC 500.0 500.0

12 RSAMPBC 10.0 10.0

12 MDEPBC 1 1

13 Point Source NPT1 Number of point sources User Defined

13 IPTU Units of emission rates (1 = g/s) 1 3

13 NSPT1 Number of point source-species combinations 0 0

13 NPT2

Number of point sources with fully variable 

emission rates 0 0

13 Point Sources Point sources characteristics User Defined

14 Area Source Area Sources Area sources characteristics User Defined

15 Volume Source Volume Volume sources characteristics User Defined Sources

16 Line Source Line Sources Buoyant lines source characteristics User Defined

17 Receptors NREC Number of user defined receptors User Defined

17 Receptor Data Location and elevation (MSL) of receptors User Defined
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Appendix C CALPOST Parameter Values
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Table C-1. CALPOST Parameter Values

The CALPOST utility will be used for computation of visibility parameters using the parameters in this table.

Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

1 ASPEC Species to process VISIB VISIB

1 METRUN Option to run subset of met file 0 1

1 BTZONE Base time zone User Defined 0

1 ILAYER

Layer/deposition code (1 = CALPUFF concentrations; -3 = wet+dry 

deposition fluxes) 1 1

1 A Scaling factor scalar 0.0 0.0

1 B Additive factor 0.0 0.0

1 LBACK Add Hourly Background Concentrations/Fluxes? F F

1 NO2CALC Specify a single NO2/Nox ratio 1 1

1 RNO2NOX Ratio of NO2 to NOx 1.0 1.0

1 MSOURCE Process only total reported contribution 0 0

2 MVISCHECK Confirm conformity to FLAG 2008 Configuration 1 1

2 MFRH Particle growth curve for hygroscopic species 4 4

2 RHMAX Maximum relative humidity (%) used in particle growth curve 98 98

2 LDRING

Report results by Discrete receptor Ring, if Discrete Receptors used. (T = 

true) T T

Modeled species to be included in computing the light extinction

2 LVSO4 Include SO4? T T

2 LVNO3 Include NO3? T T

2 LVOC Include Organic Carbon? T F

2 LVPMC Include Coarse Particles? T T

2 LVPMF Include Fine Particles? T T

2 LVEC Include Elemental Carbon? T F

2 LVNO2 Include NO2 T T

2 LVBK

When ranking for TOP-N, TOP-50, and Exceedance tables Include 

BACKGROUND? T T

2 SPECPMC Species name used for particulates in MODEL.DAT file: COARSE = PMC PMC

2 SPECPMF Species name used for particulates in MODEL.DAT file: FINE = PMF PMF

Extinction Efficiencies (1/Mm per ug/m**3)

2 EEPMC PM COARSE = 0.6 0.6
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Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

2 EEPMF PM FINE = 1.0 1.0

2 EEPMCBK Background PM COARSE 0.6 0.6

2 EESO4 SO4 = 3.0 3.0

2 EENO3 NO3 = 3.0 3.0

2 EEOC Organic Carbon = 4.0 4.0

2 EESOIL Soil = 1.0 1.0

2 EEEC Elemental Carbon = 10.0 10.0

2 EENO2 NO2 Gas = 0.1755 0.1755

2 LAVER Method used for 24-hr avg % change light extinction F F

2 MVISBK

Method used for background light extinction (2 = Hourly RH adjustment; 6 

= FLAG seasonal f(RH)) 8 8

2 RHFAC Monthly RH adjustment factors from FLAG (unique for each Class I area) Yes if 6 N/A

Background monthly extinction coefficients (FLAG) unique for each Class I 

area

2 BKSO4 Sulfate See Table C-3 (NH3)2SO4

2 BKNO3 Nitrate See Table C-3 NH4NO3

2 BKPMC Coarse particulate See Table C-3 CM

2 BKOC Particulate organic carbon See Table C-3 OM

2 BKSOIL Soil See Table C-3 Soil

2 BKEC Particulate elemental carbon See Table C-3 EC

2 M8_MODE Method 8 Mode 5 5

2 BKSALT Background salt concentration See Table C-3 Sea Salt

2 RHFSML Small ammonium sulfate and nitrate particle f(RH) See Table C-5

2 RHFLRG Large ammonium sulfate and nitrate particle f(RH) See Table C-4

2 RHFSEA Sea salt f(RH) See Table C-6

2 BEXTRAY Extinction due to Rayleigh scattering 10.0 10.0

3 LDOC Print documentation image F F

Averaging time(s) reported

3 L1PD Averaging period of model output F F

3 L1HR 1-hr averages F F

3 L3HR 3-hr averages F F

3 L24HR 24-hr averages T T

3 LRUNL Run length (annual) F F

3 LT50 Top 50 table for each averaging time selected T F
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Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

3 LTOPN F T

3 NTOP 4 1

3 ITOP 1 1

3 LEXCD Threshold exceedance count F T

3 THRESH1 1-hour threshold -1.0 -1.0

3 THRESH3 3-hour threshold -1.0 -1.0

3 THRESH24 24-hour threshold -1.0 0.5

3 THRESHN N-hour threshold -1.0 -1.0

3 NDAY Accumulated Period (days) 0 0

3 NCOUNT Number of exceedances allowed 1 1
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Table C-2: POSTUTIL (Repartition) Parameter Values

The CALUTIL will be used to perform HNO3/NO3 repartitioning using the parameters in this table.

Input 

Group Variable Description Default Value Recommended Value

1 IBYR Beginning year User Defined Varies

1 IBMO Beginning month User Defined 1

1 IBDY Beginning day User Defined 1

1 IBHR Beginning hour User Defined 1

1 NPER Length of run (hours) User Defined 8760

1 NSPECINP Number of species to process User Defined 9

1 NSPECOUT Number of species to write User Defined 9

1 NDUPLCT Stop if duplicate species names 0 0

1 NSCALED Number of CALPUFF data files to be scales 0 0

1 MNITRATE Recompute HNO3/NO3 concentration partition 0 1

1 BKNH3 Background ammonia concentrations 10. 0.5

2 ASPECI Species to input User Defined

SO2,SO4,NOX,HNO3,

NO3,PMF,PMC,EC,SOA

2 ASPECO Speceis to output User Defined

SO2,SO4,NOX,HNO3,

NO3,PMF,PMC,EC,SOA
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Table C-3. Background Extinction Coefficients (20% Best Days).

(NH4)2SO4 NH4NO3 OM EC Soil CM Sea Salt Rayleigh

Class I Area Abbrev. μg/m3 μg/m3 μg/m3 μg/m3 μg/m3 μg/m3 μg/m3 Mm-1

Anaconda Pintler Wilderness ANAC2 0.04 0.03 0.12 0.01 0.07 0.31 0.00 10

Bob Marshall Wilderness BOMA3 0.05 0.04 0.19 0.01 0.08 0.37 0.00 10

Cabinet Mountains Wilderness CAMO2 0.05 0.05 0.13 0.01 0.09 0.42 0.01 10

Gates of the Mountains Wilderness GAMO 0.04 0.04 0.13 0.01 0.07 0.49 0.00 9

Glacier NP GLAC3 0.05 0.03 0.17 0.01 0.11 0.57 0.00 11

Mission Mountains Wilderness MIMO2 0.05 0.04 0.19 0.01 0.08 0.37 0.00 10

North Absaroka Wilderness NOAB2 0.05 0.04 0.16 0.00 0.11 0.82 0.00 9

Red Rock Lakes Wilderness REDRWILD 0.06 0.05 0.17 0.01 0.08 0.33 0.00 9

Scapegoat Wilderness SCAP2 0.05 0.04 0.19 0.01 0.08 0.37 0.00 10

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness SELW4 0.04 0.03 0.12 0.01 0.07 0.31 0.00 10

Teton Wilderness TETO2 0.06 0.05 0.17 0.01 0.08 0.33 0.00 9

Theodore Roosevelt NP THRO 0.07 0.04 0.26 0.01 0.21 1.20 0.01 11

UL Bend Wilderness ULBEWILD 0.05 0.03 0.18 0.01 0.15 0.93 0.01 11

Washakie Wilderness WASH3 0.05 0.04 0.16 0.00 0.11 0.82 0.00 9

Yellowstone NP YELL4 0.06 0.05 0.17 0.01 0.08 0.33 0.00 9

Taken from FLAGG, 2010 Table 5
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Table C-4. Monthly fL(RH) – Large (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3 Relative Humidity Adjustment Factor.

Class I Area Abbrev. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Anaconda Pintler Wilderness ANAC2 2.75 2.46 2.24 2.08 2.06 2.01 1.76 1.72 1.88 2.22 2.66 2.74

Bob Marshall Wilderness BOMA3 2.82 2.54 2.35 2.22 2.21 2.19 1.98 1.92 2.15 2.43 2.78 2.81

Cabinet Mountains Wilderness CAMO2 3.07 2.73 2.45 2.26 2.24 2.21 1.98 1.92 2.19 2.53 3.03 3.11

Gates of the Mountains Wilderness GAMO 2.46 2.25 2.15 2.05 2.02 2.00 1.81 1.77 1.91 2.15 2.37 2.41

Glacier NP GLAC3 3.21 2.84 2.69 2.55 2.58 2.56 2.24 2.22 2.57 2.81 3.08 3.13

Mission Mountains Wilderness MIMO2 2.93 2.62 2.37 2.20 2.21 2.19 1.98 1.92 2.15 2.46 2.91 2.96

North Absaroka Wilderness NOAB2 2.16 2.05 2.01 1.95 1.94 1.77 1.58 1.50 1.67 1.87 2.12 2.14

Red Rock Lakes Wilderness REDRWILD 2.39 2.20 2.06 1.95 1.92 1.80 1.60 1.54 1.69 1.93 2.30 2.37

Scapegoat Wilderness SCAP2 2.74 2.47 2.30 2.18 2.16 2.14 1.93 1.87 2.07 2.35 2.70 2.72

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness SELW4 2.90 2.57 2.26 2.05 2.03 1.95 1.67 1.63 1.81 2.19 2.76 2.91

Teton Wilderness TETO2 2.22 2.09 2.01 1.92 1.91 1.72 1.52 1.47 1.65 1.86 2.15 2.19

Theodore Roosevelt NP THRO 2.47 2.42 2.45 2.12 2.14 2.21 2.14 1.99 1.99 2.10 2.58 2.57

UL Bend Wilderness ULBEWILD 2.33 2.20 2.19 2.03 1.96 1.95 1.80 1.66 1.76 2.00 2.31 2.32

Washakie Wilderness WASH3 2.16 2.05 2.01 1.94 1.93 1.74 1.54 1.48 1.66 1.86 2.12 2.14

Yellowstone NP YELL4 2.24 2.11 2.03 1.95 1.94 1.78 1.59 1.53 1.69 1.91 2.19 2.22

Taken from FLAGG, 2010 Table 7
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Table C-5. Monthly fS(RH) – Small (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3 Relative Humidity Adjustment Factor.

Class I Area Abbrev. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Anaconda Pintler Wilderness ANAC2 3.72 3.23 2.87 2.62 2.60 2.52 2.14 2.07 2.33 2.87 3.60 3.71

Bob Marshall Wilderness BOMA3 3.84 3.35 3.06 2.86 2.86 2.84 2.49 2.39 2.77 3.22 3.81 3.83

Cabinet Mountains Wilderness CAMO2 4.30 3.69 3.23 2.91 2.91 2.87 2.50 2.40 2.84 3.40 4.26 4.37

Gates of the Mountains Wilderness GAMO 3.20 2.85 2.71 2.57 2.53 2.50 2.21 2.14 2.37 2.74 3.09 3.12

Glacier NP GLAC3 4.53 3.87 3.63 3.39 3.51 3.48 2.91 2.87 3.47 3.86 4.29 4.37

Mission Mountains Wilderness MIMO2 4.03 3.51 3.08 2.82 2.84 2.83 2.49 2.40 2.78 3.28 4.04 4.08

North Absaroka Wilderness NOAB2 2.68 2.51 2.50 2.42 2.40 2.13 1.83 1.72 1.98 2.31 2.65 2.65

Red Rock Lakes Wilderness REDRWILD 3.09 2.76 2.57 2.41 2.38 2.17 1.86 1.77 2.01 2.39 2.96 3.05

Scapegoat Wilderness SCAP2 3.70 3.24 2.97 2.79 2.78 2.75 2.41 2.31 2.65 3.09 3.67 3.68

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness SELW4 3.99 3.41 2.90 2.56 2.54 2.43 2.00 1.93 2.21 2.82 3.78 4.01

Teton Wilderness TETO2 2.78 2.59 2.49 2.37 2.36 2.06 1.75 1.67 1.96 2.28 2.70 2.73

Theodore Roosevelt NP THRO 3.17 3.11 3.22 2.71 2.74 2.85 2.73 2.49 2.48 2.66 3.42 3.37

UL Bend Wilderness ULBEWILD 2.94 2.75 2.77 2.55 2.44 2.41 2.19 1.97 2.12 2.50 2.96 2.95

Washakie Wilderness WASH3 2.68 2.52 2.49 2.40 2.40 2.09 1.77 1.68 1.98 2.29 2.66 2.65

Yellowstone NP YELL4 2.82 2.61 2.53 2.42 2.41 2.16 1.86 1.76 2.02 2.36 2.78 2.80

Taken from FLAGG, 2010 Table 8
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Table C-6. Monthly fSS(RH) – Sea Salt Relative Humidity Adjustment Factor.

Class I Area Abbrev. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Anaconda Pintler Wilderness ANAC2 4.00 3.56 3.18 2.90 2.85 2.75 2.33 2.25 2.52 3.10 3.81 3.97

Bob Marshall Wilderness BOMA3 4.08 3.66 3.35 3.11 3.08 3.04 2.68 2.59 2.94 3.42 3.98 4.05

Cabinet Mountains Wilderness CAMO2 4.42 3.93 3.50 3.18 3.13 3.06 2.67 2.59 3.01 3.58 4.33 4.46

Gates of the Mountains Wilderness GAMO 3.62 3.27 3.05 2.85 2.80 2.74 2.43 2.35 2.58 2.99 3.41 3.52

Glacier NP GLAC3 4.61 4.12 3.87 3.64 3.63 3.59 3.11 3.11 3.63 4.03 4.43 4.51

Mission Mountains Wilderness MIMO2 4.24 3.79 3.38 3.10 3.08 3.04 2.68 2.59 2.96 3.48 4.17 4.26

North Absaroka Wilderness NOAB2 3.18 2.97 2.83 2.66 2.64 2.35 2.02 1.89 2.16 2.53 3.03 3.00

Red Rock Lakes Wilderness REDRWILD 3.51 3.18 2.91 2.67 2.63 2.41 2.06 1.94 2.20 2.63 3.29 3.46

Scapegoat Wilderness SCAP2 3.97 3.57 3.27 3.04 3.01 2.96 2.60 2.51 2.83 3.30 3.86 3.93

Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness SELW4 4.20 3.71 3.21 2.86 2.80 2.66 2.18 2.09 2.39 3.06 3.96 4.20

Teton Wilderness TETO2 3.26 3.04 2.83 2.61 2.59 2.27 1.93 1.83 2.14 2.50 3.07 3.21

Theodore Roosevelt NP THRO 3.67 3.56 3.51 2.93 2.97 3.09 2.96 2.72 2.72 2.93 3.75 3.78

UL Bend Wilderness ULBEWILD 3.44 3.22 3.12 2.79 2.70 2.67 2.42 2.18 2.35 2.77 3.34 3.40

Washakie Wilderness WASH3 3.18 2.98 2.83 2.64 2.62 2.31 1.96 1.85 2.15 2.50 3.04 3.14

Yellowstone NP YELL4 3.29 3.05 2.87 2.66 2.65 2.39 2.05 1.93 2.21 2.59 3.14 3.25

Taken from FLAGG, 2010 Table 9