| T&B
Systems staff has been providing audit services for surface and upper air meteorological
measurements for well over 20 years, and as such, have developed efficient and
technically sound audit methods for the wide variety of instrumentation in the
field. Our systems and performance audit methods and reporting formats have become
the standard in the industry and are in use by many organizations nationwide.
In fact, we have trained many of the auditors and organizations who eventually
become our competitors. What is key, however, is that we are on the forefront
of the methods development, and this is particularly true of the sodar, radar
and RASS audit methods. What
separates us from the competition, the clear advantage T&B Systems brings
to our clients, is actually quite simple: the longstanding excellence and integrity
of our staff, and our unsurpassed experience in the field. Consider the following: ·
Two principal and one backup auditors provide over 80 years of collective experience
in audits and meteorological measurements. Of these years, over half have been
specifically focused on quality assurance audits of meteorological measurements.
·
One of our project managers and senior auditors, Mr. Robert Baxter, essentially
wrote the EPA guidelines for use in systems and performance audits of sodar, radar
wind profiler and RASS systems. This expertise will provide our clients with the
highest level of technical competence in the conduct of the audit services, and
assures that our clients will obtain the most recent technically sound audit program
available . · Our other senior auditor David Bush has managed the
Quality Assurance (QA) function on a number of large-scale, multi-participant
monitoring programs, and he himself has performed more than 400 audits. He is
currently the QA Manager of the Children's Health Study, where his responsibilities
include the review of health effects data in addition to air quality data. He
has over 20 years experience with air quality and meteorological measurements,
and in particular QA as it pertains to air quality and meteorological monitoring
programs.
· For 8 years Mr. Baxter, alongside Mr. Tom Lockhart of
Meteorological Standards Institute, conducted workshops on quality assurance for
meteorological measurements. His expertise in QA has led the way in both the training
of other auditors as well as those tasked with making the measurements. This knowledge
is also passed on to those he audits in the field.
· The T&B
Systems staff have been conducting upper-air audits continuously over the last
couple of decades. During the last two years alone, over 40 audits of upper air
systems have been conducted. And with our expansion, T&B Systems staff has
conducted nearly 200 audits of radar, sodar and RASS systems and associated surface
meteorological measurements. Some
recent and current projects include: Sacramento
Metropolitan Air Quality Management District / California Air Resources Board
- Ozone and Meteorological Monitoring on Walnut Grove Tower T&B
Systems is monitoring simultaneous measurements of ozone and meteorological variables
at five levels from the surface to 1600 feet on a 2000-foot television transmission
tower 20 miles south of Sacramento, California. Monitoring is being conducted
using long sample lines leading to each level and a unique measurement method
using a single analyzer to sequentially make measurements at all five levels. South
Coast AQMD - Audits of the Surface and Upper-Air Meteorological Monitoring Network
PAMS and Regulatory Monitoring Stations T&B
Systems is conducting systems and performance audits of the PAMS monitoring network
and selected monitoring stations throughout the South Coast Air Basin. A total
of 12 stations will be audited that include a full complement of surface and upper-air
meteorological monitoring equipment. Surface instrumentation will include traditional
sensors for measuring wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity,
pressure, precipitation, solar and ultraviolet radiation as well as newer sonic
anemometers. Upper air instrumentation will include 915 MHz radar wind profilers,
Radio Acoustic Sounding Systems (RASS) and sodars. Air
Quality Districts - Routine External Quality Assurance Audits T&B
Systems conducts routine quality assurance audits for several air quality Districts.
Currently, T&B Systems conducts quarterly audits of seven PSD air quality
monitoring sites operated for the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District
and of the South Coast Air Quality Management District's 20-site PM2.5 network. State
of California Air Resources Board - Quality Assurance for the California Regional
PM10/PM2.5 Air Quality Study (CRPAQS) and the Central California Ozone Study (CCOS) The
California Regional PM10/PM2.5 Air Quality Study (CRPAQS) was a multi-year
program of meteorological and air quality monitoring, emission inventory development,
data analysis, and air quality simulation modeling with an overall budget of more
than $25 million. Monitoring for CRPAQS occurred between November 1999 and February
2001. Taking advantage of the CRPAQS effort, a second study, the
Central California Ozone Study (CCOS) was conducted during the summer of
2000. The major objective of CCOS was to characterize conditions over the complete
summer period, with an emphasis on periods with high ozone levels, using both
project-specific data and routine observations. T&B Systems personnel were
responsible for managing the external quality assurance program for the entire
measurement and data processing effort for both studies. Included in the effort
were extensive surface and upper air meteorological audits of a wide range of
sensors. These sensors included standard surface measurements and a wide range
of radar wind and RASS profilers, sodars and rawinsonde systems. An extensive
air quality monitoring network was also established, with many sites operating
state-of-the-art and prototype air monitoring equipment. For the two studies,
over 30 meteorological monitoring sites (surface and upper air), 110 air quality
monitoring sites, and 5 aircraft were audited. Combined, over 700 monitoring and
measurement systems were audited, many of them twice during the study. T&B
personnel conducted 90% of the audits.
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