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Title: DISPERSION OF SWINE LAGOON ODORS ACROSS A LANDSCAPE: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT MODEL

Author
item Hatfield, Jerry
item Prueger, John
item Zahn, James

Submitted to: Southeast Animal Waste Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/12/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Detection of odors by neighbors is an unwanted nuisance and there are recent court cases that have upheld the suit against the producer. Odor movement across a landscape is a complicated process. Unlike particulate matter, the compounds that cause odor interact with the air volume as the air moves across a landscape. Odor dispersion models would assist in the assessment of potential problems with siting and could evaluate potential landscape management practices that would enhance the dispersion of odor into the atmosphere. We have developed an initial framework for an odor dispersion model based on the observations of a flux of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the surface of a swine lagoon. The model is based on the estimation of the surface roughness of the surrounding area, the windspeed and direction, and the flux of VOCs into the air volume. The model then predicts the relative concentration of a given VOC at any distance away from the source. The second version of the model incorporates an interaction of the VOC with temperature and humidity, and since there is little known about these interactions, we have assumed several forms of the meteorological-VOC response for the model. The model incorporates the atmospheric conditions and the potential changes in VOC concentration with distance from the source. The model is being evaluated with data collected from a lagoon in central Iowa. There is little information on dispersion of odor over complex surfaces, and this model provides a framework to begin the assessment of potential movement patterns away from sources throughout a year. We have begun a program to evaluate this model at different sites and to refine the VOC response to meteorological conditions.