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ARL News

A new focus on Las Vegas

The rapid growth in the Las Vegas valley is causing concerns about water availability and is aggravating air quality. In addition, there are continuing concerns about possible attacks using chemical and/or biological agents. ARL operates a mesoscale network in southern Nevada, which will be used as a foundation for new urban-scale studies that are now being planned.

The Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Terrestrial Applications (CIASTA) and ARL hosted a high-level meeting on August 3 to coordinate meteorological monitoring and modeling activities in southern Nevada. The specific goal was to improve coordination among relevant agencies and organizations so as to optimize the use of their measurements for

-- Air quality assessment and modeling, in particular for tropospheric ozone and surface releases of hazardous materials in support of public health and safety

-- Improved weather forecasting on local and regional scales, including a variety of severe weather, i.e. severe thunderstorms and flash flooding, in support of public safety

-- Local scale transport and dispersion in support of homeland security, and

-- Downwind deposition of pollution and related environmental effects.

The meeting was attended by 31 participants from 11 organizations (see web link below for attendance list). The participants agreed that there are advantages to improved coordination and communication and that a group should be organized to facilitate cooperation and to promote additional measurement programs. A working group was identified to coordinate future efforts.

Additional details regarding this activity have been reported by CIASTA, elsewhere among these "Hot Items."

More information:http://www.ciasta.dri.edu/Conferences/LVmeeting_summary.html

Contact information: Bruce B. Hicks
Phone: (301) 713-0684
e-mail: bruce.hicks@noaa.gov