A Receptor Climatology of Trajectories Originating in New York State

Air parcel trajectories originating from three locations in New York State are calculated for a three year period using the ARL-ATAD long-range transport model. Model output consisting of a trajectory segment's end point longitude and latitude position are analyzed to describe the long-range transport climatology by computing the frequency of occurrence of segment end points terminating over 33 receptor areas comprising east-central North America and a portion of the Atlantic Ocean. Results of the frequency of occurrence data show how often air pollutants emitted at or near the origin may be expected to drift over a specific downwind region. For the New York City airshed, it was found that 26.2% of the trajectories remain over New York State for transport times of 3 h and the frequency decreases to 5.2% after 24 h of transport. Approximately 40% of all trajectories are found to be over the Atlantic Ocean after 3 h of transport. When allowances are made for losses of data over the Atlantic Ocean, up to 64% of all trajectories are over the Atlantic Ocean after 24 h of transport. This frequency of trajectories over the Atlantic Ocean was found to be in agreement with wet and dry deposition modeling results conducted for power plants in New York City.