• Army Corps updates water release schedule for Francis E. Walter Dam

    The U.S. Army Corps Engineers’ Philadelphia District announced an update to the 2022 Francis E. Walter Dam recreation plan.
  • District schedules Craney Island mosquito treatment for August 8

    NORFOLK, Va. — The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in coordination with the City of Portsmouth, Virginia, will conduct aerial mosquito spraying Monday, August 8 over federal properties on Craney Island, adjacent city properties, and the Churchland area in Portsmouth.
  • Army Corps releases final Curwensville Lake Master Plan

    -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, has released the new Curwensville Lake Master Plan (“2022 Master Plan”) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) that will serve as the guiding document for decision making at the lake for next 15 to 25 years.
  • Uncovering the past: Mastodon jaw found on Corps land

    It was windy, and the little boat bounced on whitecaps as it crossed the Columbia River. On May 9, Walla Walla District archeologists and natural resource management staff were heading out to meet with tribal and community members to discuss an important discovery on Corps land.
  • U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to Offer Public Workshops in Grundy, VA for the Buchanan County Section 202 Flood Risk Reduction Project

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is hosting workshops on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and again on Thursday, August 25, 2022 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the 2nd floor of the Buchanan County Government Center in Grundy, Va. The Buchanan County Government Center is located at 4447 Slate Creek Road, Grundy, Va. 24614. 
  • South Pole Station Snowdrift Model

    Abstract: The elevated building at Scott-Amundsen South Pole Station was designed to mitigate the effects of windblown snow on it and the surrounding infrastructure. Because the elevation of the snow surface increases annually, the station is periodically lifted on its support columns to maintain its design height above the snow surface. To assist with planning these lifts, this effort developed a computational model to simulate snowdrift formation around the elevated building. The model uses computational fluid dynamics methods and synthetic wind record generation derived from statistical analysis of meteorological data. Simulations assessed the impact of several options for the lifting operation on drifts surrounding the elevated building. Simulation results indicate that raising the eastern-most building section (Pod A), or the entire station all at once, can reduce drift accumulation rates over the nearby arches structures. Long-term analyses, spanning 5–6 years, determine whether an equilibrium drift condition may be reached after a long period of undisturbed drift development. These simulations showed that after about 6 years, the rate of growth of the upwind drift slows, appearing to approach an equilibrium condition. However, the adjacent drifts were still increasing in depth at a roughly linear rate, indicating that equilibrium for those drifts was still several seasons away.
  • SAGE-PEDD Theory Manual: Modeling Windblown Snow Deposition around Buildings

    Abstract: Numerical modeling of snowdrifting is a useful tool for assessing the im-pact of building design on operations and facility maintenance. Here we outline the theory for the SAGE-PEDD snowdrift model that has applica-tion for determining snowdrift accumulation around buildings. This model uses the SAGE computational fluid dynamics code to determine the flow field in the computational domain. A particle entrainment, dis-persion, and deposition (PEDD) model is coupled to SAGE to simulate the movement and deposition of the snow within the computational do-main. The report also outlines areas of future development that upgrades to the SAGE-PEDD model should address.
  • SAGE-PEDD User Manual

    Abstract: SAGE-PEDD is a computational model for estimating snowdrift shapes around buildings. The main inputs to the model are wind speed, wind direction, building geometry and initial ground or snow-surface topography. Though developed mainly for predicting snowdrift shapes, it has the flexibility to accept other soil types, though this manual addresses snow only. This manual provides detailed information for set up, running, and viewing the output of a SAGE-PEDD simulation.
  • Simulating Environmental Conditions for Southwest United States Convective Dust Storms Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model v4.1

    Abstract: Dust aerosols can pose a significant detriment to public health, transportation, and tactical operations through reductions in air quality and visibility. Thus, accurate model forecasts of dust emission and transport are essential to decision makers. While a large number of studies have advanced the understanding and predictability of dust storms, the majority of existing literature considers dust production and forcing conditions of the underlying meteorology independently of each other. Our study works towards filling this research gap by inventorying dust-event case studies forced by convective activity in the Desert Southwest United States, simulating select representative case studies using several configurations of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, testing the sensitivity of forecasts to essential model parameters, and assessing overall forecast skill using variables essential to dust production and transport. We found our control configuration captured the initiation, evolution, and storm structure of a variety of convective features admirably well. Peak wind speeds were well represented, but we found that simulated events arrived up to 2 hours earlier or later than observed. Our results show that convective storms are highly sensitive to initialization time and initial conditions that can preemptively dry the atmosphere and suppress the growth of convective storms.
  • USACE to temporarily close Paraloma boat ramp

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will temporarily close the Paraloma boat ramp on Millwood Lake from Aug. 22-29. The Millwood Tri-Lakes Project Office scheduled the closure to repair the entrance road to the ramp.