Combined Occurrence Frequency of Wind Speeds and Precipitation Amounts Conducive to Dust Dispersion from Disturbed Mine and Mill Sites in the United States, 2007–16
Dates
Publication Date
2020-09-29
Start Date
2007-01-01
End Date
2016-12-31
Citation
Humberson, D.G., Gallegos, T.J., and Stengel, V.G., 2020, Combined Occurrence Frequency of Wind Speeds and Precipitation Amounts Conducive to Dust Dispersion from Disturbed Mine and Mill Sites in the United States, 2007–16: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9A1ICYJ.
Summary
Dispersion of dust depends on many complex factors related to the nature of the disturbed materials, climate, dust control measures, and localized weather patterns. This dataset presents wind speed and rainfall as climate factors that influence dust dispersion. These two basic factors were identified as a subset of the many factors that can lead to dust dispersion. Arpacioglu and Er (2003) reviewed historical data from selected mine sites and suggested that days when the windspeed was at least 5.4 meters per second (m/s) at 10 meters above land surface and rainfall was less than 0.25 centimeter (cm) might lead to greater dust dispersion. Existing publicly available precipitation and wind speed data from NASA’s North American Land Data [...]
Summary
Dispersion of dust depends on many complex factors related to the nature of the disturbed materials, climate, dust control measures, and localized weather patterns. This dataset presents wind speed and rainfall as climate factors that influence dust dispersion. These two basic factors were identified as a subset of the many factors that can lead to dust dispersion. Arpacioglu and Er (2003) reviewed historical data from selected mine sites and suggested that days when the windspeed was at least 5.4 meters per second (m/s) at 10 meters above land surface and rainfall was less than 0.25 centimeter (cm) might lead to greater dust dispersion. Existing publicly available precipitation and wind speed data from NASA’s North American Land Data Assimilation System Phase 2 (NLDAS-2), reflecting climatic conditions over a 10-year period in the United States, were used to assess the number of days between 2007 and 2016 that meet these criteria. The resulting dust dispersion index data sets are intended to indicate areas that exhibit criteria that are most likely to disperse dust particulates and fugitive dusts from disturbed mine and mill sites.
Reference:
Arpacioglu, C. B., and Er, C., 2003, Estimation of Fugitive Dust Impacts of Open Pit Mines on Local Air Quality—A case study, Bellavista Gold Mine, Costa Rica: 18th International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey-IMCET 2003, Turkey, IMCET.
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dd07_16num.xml Original FGDC Metadata
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DustTX.zip
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Purpose
The purpose of this data release is to provide a geospatial data set that can be used to analyze the potential for dispersion of fugitive dust from mining and milling operations in the United States. The objectives were to: (1) identify meteorological criteria based on field-based observations of mine or mill waste pile erosion studies that indicate the potential for dust dispersion from disturbed mining and milling sites, and (2) locate, acquire, and process existing historical indicator data to create a map that indicates the potential for dust dispersion from disturbed mine and mill sites.
