WIND EROSION AND FUGITIVE DUST FLUXES ON AGRICULTURAL LANDS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
With recent emphasis of agricultural wind erosion and associated dust emissions impacting downwind air
quality, there is an increased need for a prediction method to estimate dust emissions and ambient particle concentrations
on a wind event basis. Most current wind erosion methods predict average annual or seasonal erosion amounts, and only
very approximate estimates of suspended dust emissions are available. A project in the Columbia Plateau of eastern
Washington State was initiated to develop an empirical method to estimate dust emissions for this region. Field
measurements, wind tunnel tests, and laboratory analyses were combined to provide an empirical wind erosion equation
and a related vertical flux dust emission model. While based on measured data, the model has not been independently
verified. When combined with a transport-dispersion model and calibrated, estimates of downwind particulate
concentrations compared reasonably with those measured.