What’s Happening Now
*HOT* Providence/Oris YouTube channel – We are excited to announce that we now have a YouTube channel dedicated to our informative, instructive videos. We’ve just gotten started but will be adding more content in the months to come. Log on to https://www.youtube.com/@providenceoris9772 and check it out. Click Subscribe and be informed every time we post new content to the channel.
EPA News
*HOT* New Annual PM2.5 NAAQS Announced – On February 7, 2024, US EPA announced changes to the annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The new level of the annual standard has been reduced by 25%, from 12 μg/m3 to 9 μg/m3. As you can imagine, this will make PM2.5 NAAQS modeling even more challenging, given that ambient background is already right around 9 μg/m3 in many places. The rule is scheduled to take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
To read the entire rule, as well as some associated fact sheets, you can go here.
Although EPA has not officially announced any modeling-related changes due to this revision to the NAAQS, you may expect to see updated modeling guidance, plus possibly a change to the annual PM2.5 SIL. It’s still early in the process, so stay tuned!
Conferences and Workshops
*HOT* CAPCA Spring Technical Workshop and Forum – The 55th Carolinas Air Pollution Control Association (CAPCA) Spring Technical Workshop and Forum will be held April 10-12, 2024 at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. Click here for more Information regarding attendee registration, exhibitor registration, lodging, etc.
*HOT* 2024 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Trade Fair – This year’s version of the TCEQ Trade Fair will be held May 14-15, 2024 at the Austin (TX) Convention Center. As always, this event will be chock-full of presentations on air quality permitting, other air, water, and waste issues, and oil/gas issues. Providence will be there and we hope to see you there, too. Click here for more information.
*HOT* The 2024 AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) will be held in Calgary, AB June 24-27, 2024. ACE is returning to the scene of the popular 2010 Conference, and this one should also be outstanding! Click here for more information on registration, etc.
*Rumor* Although nothing has been officially scheduled yet, there are rumors of another AWMA modeling specialty conference to be held at Research Triangle Park, NC in the fall of 2024. Once something official is announced, we will share that with you here in Providence/Oris Notes.
If your company, organization, agency, State, etc. has an upcoming modeling or air quality-related event (virtual or otherwise) and you’d like it publicized in Providence/Oris Notes, please send that information to us at info@providenceoris.com, and we’ll be happy to include it.
Providence Products
Simply the best!
BEEST Suite
*HOT* BEEST 12.10 has been released! BEEST 12.10 allows you to run AERMOD 23132 and AERMET 23132, but currently does not include an interface for the new COARE over-water algorithms in AERMET. It includes all of these great new features:
• *The AERMOD 23132 executable* (although the new keywords will be incorporated into BEEST 12.11
• *The AERMET 23132 executable*
• Support for new AERMOD 22112 alpha keywords SWPOINT, RLINEXT, and PLATFORM
• Ability to export new SWPOINT and RLINEXT source types to Google Earth
• The AerMinute GUI includes download access to the new 1-minute ASOS data site (National Center for Environmental Information or NCEI website — as was discussed in in October 2022 Providence/Oris Notes)
• We’ve added the ability to add receptors along an Other line (like a road or railroad)
• Reads the ArcGIS world file when the user opens a background map
• Updated Terrain File Converter to read the latest version of GDAL library files
• Added a warning in Receptor Options when the number of partitions is greater than the total number of receptors
• Added confirmation prompt when the user clicks the “Remove last day from output files” button in AerMet
• Added a list of ASOS station anemometer heights to guidance documents
• An updated WindRose utility
• And more!
We presented a webinar on the new features in BEEST 12.10 back on December 21, 2023. If you missed it, you can view the recording of it here.
Look for BEEST 12.11 to be out by the end of March 2024. This update will include the new AERMET keywords and more!
As always, users in maintenance can download the most recent version of BEEST from https://www.providenceoris.com/software-downloads/.
“Go BEEST Mode !” We still have plenty of Go BEEST Mode t-shirts! You can request one of those by emailing us at info@providenceoris.com.
AerScreen for Windows
*HOT* AerScreen for Windows 4.04 is now out! The update has these new features/enhancements:
- Runs AERMOD 23132
- Terrain Files Converter has been updated to use Geospatial Data Abstraction Library 3.7
- Terrain Files Converter User Manual has been updated
Users in maintenance can download the most recent version of AerScreen for Windows from https://www.providenceoris.com/software-downloads/.
AERMOD Wizard
*HOT* AERMOD Wizard 1.09 is out and includes these updates:
- Updated AERMET version to 23132
- Ability to download all of the EPA 2022 ambient monitoring data
- Ability to export Class I areas and Class I area receptors to Google Earth
- Ability to download ASOS data from the new NCEI website
- Inclusion of the 2020 National Emissions Inventory (NEI) data set
- And more!
We will be presenting a webinar on the new features in AERMOD Wizard 1.09 on Thursday February 1, 2024 at 3 pm CST. Click here to register for the webinar.
Users in maintenance can download AERMOD Wizard from https://www.providenceoris.com/software-downloads/.
We’re off to use the Wizard!
If you have suggestions for an enhancement to any of our modeling software products, please let us know and we’ll do our best to incorporate it into the software ASAP!
Modeling Tip of the Month
When running AERSURFACE (either for meteorological data processing or determining site-specific surface roughness length), always make sure that your domain (for land cover, impervious cover, and canopy cover data files) extends at least 5 kilometers in every direction from the coordinate you enter as the site location. The reason for this is the way AERSURFACE calculates Bowen ratio and albedo. Section 2.4.2 of the user’s guide (page 2-20) for AERSURFACE 20060 says:
“Bowen ratio is calculated as the simple geometric mean of the Bowen ratio values of the individual grid cells that make up the 10 km x 10 km area centered on the measurement site.”
Likewise, section 2.4.3 of the AERSURFACE user’s guide says:
Failure to have your location centered within a 10 x 10 km domain will cause AERSURFACE to fail.
Providence Training
Modeling skills ready for an upgrade? We can help!
We want to note that many folks use our classes as credit toward professional engineer continuing education requirements. Check with your state’s licensing board or the National Society of Professional Engineers (see here or here) for more information on what is required.
Essential Air Permitting
Providence’s next Essential Air Permitting class will be May 6, 2024 and it will be in Denver, CO. This class it tailored to those folks who are new to air permitting or perhaps new environmental managers who need a good overview of the basic issues related to air permitting. Topics such as statutes, applicability, netting, emission calculations, and Title V are just some of the areas that are covered. To register for this Essential Air Permitting class, click here.
AERMOD Modeling for Permits
Our next AERMOD Modeling for Permits class for 2024 will be May 7-8, 2024 and it will be in Denver, CO. If you are wanting to get started in air modeling, then this class is for you! If you want to register, please click here.
Advanced AERMOD
Similarly, our next Advanced AERMOD class will be May 9-10, 2024, and it will also be in Denver.
Advanced AERMOD covers those topics that are near and dear to modelers, such as:
• NAAQS modeling for 1-hour NO2, 1-hour SO2, and 24-hour PM2.5 (including the new MAXDCONT Viewer)
• Meteorological data processing with AERMET/AERMINUTE/AERSURFACE
• Culpability Determination
• Background Concentrations
• Emission scalars and Hourly Emission Rate files
• Changes in Terrain Data Processing and
• AERMOD Wizard and its uses
To register for Advanced AERMOD, click here.
Just as a reminder, if you register more than 30 days before your AERMOD class(es), you will receive a $100 discount on the course fee (per class, per registrant).
On-demand Meteorological Data Processing webinar
We are planning to launch a new training option – on-demand webinars. The first of these to be released will be “Meteorological Data Processing for AERMOD”. Look for it at www.providenceoris.com coming soon.
On-demand AERSCREEN webinar
We will be releasing an on-demand training webinar for AERSCREEN. Watch this space for details!
Don’t forget, if our schedule of classes doesn’t mesh with your schedule, or if you have several people that need to be trained at once, contact us about setting up your own onsite or online class.
2024 Class Dates
Here are our training dates for the rest of 2024.
| Date | Class | Location |
| 6-May | Essential Air Permitting | Denver, CO |
| May 7-8 | AERMOD Modeling for Permits | Denver, CO |
| May 9-10 | Advanced AERMOD | Denver, CO |
| 19-Aug | Essential Air Permitting | On-line |
| August 20-21 | AERMOD Modeling for Permits | On-line |
| August 22-23 | Advanced AERMOD | On-line |
| 9-Dec | Essential Air Permitting | On-line |
| December 10-11 | AERMOD Modeling for Permits | On-line |
| December 12-13 | Advanced AERMOD | On-line |
Please note that our May 2024 classes will be in person and will be held in Denver, CO.
Providence Services
BeestXpress
Our newer, faster BeestXpress processors run the new AERMOD 23132!
If you’ve never used our super-fast cloud-based BeestXpress before, now is the time. We have an on-demand webinar that steps you through the process of setting up an BeestXpress account and sending off your first BeestXpress run. You can view the webinar here. New BeestXpress users can complete their first run with up to 50 partitions absolutely FREE. Instructions about receiving the free run are given at the end of the webinar. Beyond the starter run BeestXpress will give you a per-run cost estimate before you begin. If you need help budgeting for BeestXpress, contact us for additional daily rate pricing options.
BeestXpress users have some great system enhancements to work with:
- The “Job Details” webpage now displays the pollutant being modeled
- The “Job Details” webpage now displays run progress for MAXDCONT calculations
- Modeling runs with multiple partitions now include a combined AERMOD input file (*.DTA) in the output .ZIP file
- Added an option to the “Submit Job” webpage that affects modeling runs with multiple partitions: the intermediate output files created by each partition can be omitted from the output .ZIP file
- The “Job Search” webpage now includes the option to search by project number
- Users have access to up to 99 partitions per AERMOD run
To date, BeestXpress has processed over 500,000 AERMOD runs.
BeestXpress users can log on at www.beestxpress.com to take advantage of our AERMOD “force multiplier”. That AERMOD run that might have taken a day or two to process on your desktop computer can finish in an hour or less on BeestXpress. When time is money, BeestXpress is the best modeling return on investment there is!
Meteorological Data Processing Services
Do you need AERMOD-ready meteorological data? If so, we can help! Whether it’s running national weather service data or onsite monitor met data through the AERMET/AERMINUTE system, Providence has the background, know-how, and experience to have your data processed and ready for you ASAP. If you’d like more information, contact us at info@providenceoris.com or jamesred@providenceeng.com.
Consulting Solutions
One thing that we’re very proud of is the depth and range of our modeling experience and expertise. The kinds of air quality models we’ve used include all types, ranging from simple screening tools like SCREEN and AERSCREEN to plume models like ISC and AERMOD. The types of analyses include basic Significant Impact Level, NAAQS, PSD increment consumption, Class I analyses, air toxics and SIP attainment demonstrations. So, we’ve seen it all. To that end, should you or your clients need additional modeling assistance or just a second set of eyes to QA or peer review your modeling (ranging from initial protocol up to final submission), we stand ready to help. Feel free to contact us at 512‑258‑8855, 828‑628‑0634 or info@providenceoris.com.
Calendar
CAPCA Spring Technical Workshop and Forum
April 10-12, 2024
Asheville, NC
Essential Air Permitting
May 6, 2024
Denver, CO
AERMOD Modeling for Permits
May 7-8, 2024
Denver, CO
Advanced AERMOD
May 9-10, 2024
Denver, CO
TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair
May 14-15, 2024
Austin, TX
AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition ACE
June 24-27, 2024
Calgary, AB
Our complete class schedule can always be found at https://www.providenceoris.com/training/
For More Information:
Phone: (512) 258-8855
Email: info@providenceoris.com
Visit our websites:
www.providenceoris.com (software, support, and training)
www.beestxpress.com (cloud-based high speed AERMOD)
