PRE AND POST STRYKER TRANSFORMATION MANEUVERS AT POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA, HAWAII: TRACKING MILITARY VEHICLES AND USING GIS TO QUANTIFY SITE-SPECIFIC DUST GENERATION

摘要

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of Stryker transformation on dust generated at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), Hawaii. Dust emission from military training exercises at PTA was one of the concerns identified by U.S. Army in maintaining environmental compliance during the transformation. Vehicles were tracked using GPS vehicle tracking systems. A pre-Stryker transformation study was conducted in November 2006 using Garmin 18 GPS receivers to track Medium Tactical Vehicles, (MTV-M1083) and High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, (HMMWV- M998). A post-Stryker transformation tracking study involved 8- wheeled Strykers (M1126) and was conducted in April 2007 at PTA. Vehicle training maneuvers revealed valuable information on vehicle movement determination in terms of distances traveled and velocities. The research focused on quantification of dust pre and post Stryker transformation. The relative amount of dust generated pre and post Stryker transformation exercise on different unpaved road segments at PTA was estimated using an US EPA (1979) developed dust emission estimation model. The vehicle tracking study at PTA was useful in estimating the daily dust emissions from the pre and post Stryker transformation training maneuvers. During the pre-Stryker transformation exercise, 11 vehicles (HMMWV's and MTV's combined) traveled an average 221.5 km for a period of 10 days with an average velocity of 5.79 m/s and generated an estimated 422 kg of dust per battalion day. Similarly, during the post-Stryker transformation exercise, 16 vehicles (Strykers) traveled an average of 13.43 km/day with an average velocity of 5.45 m/s and emitted 1,926 kg of dust per Battalion day. It is estimated that training after Stryker transformation generated nearly 5 times more dust when compared to before Stryker transformation.