ARS | Publication request: WIND EROSION AND FUGITIVE DUST FLUXES ON AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Submitted to: American Society of Agricultural Engineers
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 12, 1998
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: With recent emphasis of agricultural wind erosion and associated dust emissions impacting downwind air quality, there is an increased need for a prediction method to estimate dust emissions and concentrations on a wind event basis. Most current wind erosion methods predict average annual or seasonal erosion amounts, and only very approximate estimates of suspended dust emissions are available. A project in the Columbia Plateau of Easter Washington State was initiated to develop an empirical method to estimate dust emissions in this region. Field measurements, wind tunnel tests and laboratory analyses were combined to provide a wind erosion equation and a related vertical flux dust emission model. While based on measured data, the model has not been independently verified. When combined with a transport-dispersion model, estimates of downwind particulate concentrations compared reasonably with those measured.