CALPUFF is an advanced non-steady-state meteorological and air quality modeling
system developed by ASG scientists. It is maintained by the model developers and
distributed by TRC. The model has been adopted by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) in its Guideline on Air Quality Models as the
preferred model for assessing long range transport of pollutants and their
impacts on Federal Class I areas and on a case-by-case basis for certain
near-field applications involving complex meteorological conditions.
The modeling system consists of three main components and a set of preprocessing
and postprocessing programs. The main components of the modeling system are
CALMET (a diagnostic 3-dimensional meteorological model), CALPUFF (an air quality
dispersion model), and CALPOST (a postprocessing package). Each of these programs
has a graphical user interface (GUI). In addition to these components, there are
numerous other processors that may be used to prepare geophysical (land use and
terrain) data in many standard formats, meteorological data (surface, upper air,
precipitation, and buoy data), and interfaces to other models such as the Penn
State/NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5), the National Centers for Environmental Prediction
(NCEP) Eta/NAM and RUC models, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model
and the RAMS model.
April 25, 2011.
CALMET has been updated to Version 6.334 to reflect Model Change Bulletin G (MCB-G).
April 14, 2011.
Updates to the Nov 2010 Version 6 CALPUFF (v6.42) and CALPOST (v6.291) model codes. This release includes a new v6 CALMET release (v6.333) and new GUIs compatible with the updated v6 codes.
November 3, 2010.
Two new chemistry options have been introduced into the latest Version 6 series of the CALPUFF modeling system. The new programs include CALPUFF (Version 6.4) and POSTUTIL (Version 1.64). The changes to the chemistry include modifications to the RIVAD chemical conversion algorithms for the transformation of SO2 to SO4 and NO/NO2 to HNO3 and NO3, addition of the ISORROPIA (Version 2.1) model for inorganic gas-particle equilibrium, addition of aqueous-phase transformation adapted from the RADM cloud implementation in CMAQ/SCICHEM and a new option for anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation based on the CalTech SOA model implemented in CMAQ-MADRID. These changes are based on work by Karamchandani et al. (2008) with an earlier version of ISORROPIA and CALPUFF. Other changes in this release also include MCB-F updates as well as new model options such as a nested grid option in CALPUFF.
August 4, 2008.
An implementation of the draft FLAG (2008) guidance on visibility has been added
to a new beta Version 6 of CALPOST. The GUI has been enhanced to include a library
of the f(RH) and background extinction values for each Class I area in the United States.
Changes to Version 6 of CALMET and CALPUFF that do not affect results when running in
regulatory mode have been included in this update.
June 27, 2008.
Version 6 of the model has been updated to include all updates through MCB-E as
well as the new regulatory switch used in Version 5.8 and settings recommended
by the EPA. An extensive set of new features has been added to the graphical
user interface system and support processors.
June 29, 2007.
The EPA has approved an update in CALPUFF from V5.711a (dated July 16, 2004) to V5.8
(dated June 23, 2007). This update includes code changes described in Model Change
Bulletin B (MCB-B), MCB-C and MCB-D. CALMET has been updated from V5.53a
(dated July 16, 2004) to V5.8 (dated June 23, 2007). The new codes are based on the
VISTAS-series codes (CALPUFF V5.756 and CALMET V5.726) with the main changes being the
addition of a regulatory switch in CALMET and switch settings recommended by the EPA
to configure the models to be consistent with the prior regulatory versions. The
model preprocessors and postprocessors in the EPA-approved section have been updated
to the VISTAS-series of the model codes.
August 4, 2006.
Update of VISTAS Version 5 (CALMET, CALPUFF, CALPOST, POSTUTIL, CALMET GUI, and CALPro GUI).
CALMET v5.726 (dated August 1, 2006) includes corrections in the overwater buoyancy
flux calculations, and modifications to correct run-time stoppages seen in specific
configurations.
CALPUFF v5.756 (dated July 25, 2006) includes a correction to a potential temperature
gradient calculation near the top of the domain, and modifications
to turn off debug output for slugs and to allow ozone dataset v2.1 files to be
used with the UTM map projection.
CALMET, CALPUFF, CALPOST, and POSTUTIL executables recompiled with new large parameter
configurations consistent with VISTAS applications.
VISTAS Example Screening BART Simulation and Sample Emissions Data Spreadsheets updated.
June 15, 2006. The EPA has approved an update to CALPUFF from
v5.7 (dated April 2, 2003) to v5.711a (dated July 16, 2004) as described in Model Change Bulletin A (MCB-A).
April 14, 2006. Update of Version 6 (CALMET, CALPUFF, CALPOST, POSTUTIL, and CALPro GUI);
Update of VISTAS Version 5 (CALMET, CALPUFF, POSTUTIL, BUOY, and CALPro GUI); VISTAS Sub-Regional Sample
Files and Data Files available and new description of one-step ALM procedure.
April 3, 2006. Release of Version 6 of the CALPUFF modeling
system.
March 30, 2006. Update of CALMM5 to eliminate possible
duplicate hours being retained when using multiple MM5
output files from different MM5 runs with overlapping hours.
January 9, 2006. Model Change Bulletin B (MCB-B) has been added that addresses changes
to the modeling system codes needed to update the current BETA-Test (MCB-A) release. These
changes are posted here to provide users access to important updates prior to the next release of the system.
Model Change Bulletin B(051216)
identifies the changes in CALMET and CALPUFF and may be used to update the corresponding codes. Users who
are currently running the BETA-Test (MCB-A) versions of these programs may download updated versions
by going to the "Download" page. Note that a revised GUI installation for the BETA-Test (MCB-B) system
is provided there as well, which contains the updated CALMET and CALPUFF executables.
May 25, 2005. A version of CALMM5 (MM5 V3) has been added to the Download BETA-Test page.
This version of CALMM5 processes MM5 Version 3 output data directly.
July 16, 2004. A Model Change Bulletin (MCB) has been added that addresses changes
to the modeling system codes needed to update the current BETA-Test release. These
changes will be part of the next release of the system, but are posted here to provide
users access to important updates in the interim. Model Change Bulletin A(040716)
identifies the changes in CALMET,CALPUFF, READ62,and SMERGE,
and may be used to update the corresponding codes. Users who
are currently running the BETA-Test versions of these programs may download updated versions
by going to the "Download" page. Note that a revised GUI installation for the BETA-Test system
is provided there as well, which contains the updated CALMET and CALPUFF executables.
July 11, 2003. Changes to the official version of the CALPUFF modeling
system are available for beta testing on the "Download" page. These modifications are not
yet officially accepted by the US EPA, but they are provided for user testing.
April 17, 2003. A new version of the CALPUFF modeling system
has been released. This version of
the model is the EPA-recommended version that should be used for regulatory
application studies. It includes
numerous upgrades and new features, including a “no-observations” option in
CALMET allowing the model to be run with 3-D prognostic (e.g., MM5)
meteorological data alone, introduction of the PRIME building downwash model, a
generalized coordinate transformations, new self-documenting control (input)
files for the preprocessors and postprocessors, and a set of new GUIs for
running the preprocessing programs.
The elements of the beta-test version that has previously been available
are implemented into the new release.
More information on the specific model updates are provided in the
download area of the web page.
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages, formerly available in the
beta-test area, has been expanded and is now accessible on the main download
pages, or by means of the FAQs link listed in the panel on your left.
