Meteorological influences on mass accountability of aerially applied sprays

by

Bradley K. Fritz

Contact: Dr. Bradley K. Fritz   e-mail: bfritz@apmru.usda.gov

Summary:

The EPA defines spray drift as the physical movement of applied materials through the air to any off-target site.  Airborne spray leaving the targeted area reduces the applied dosage, and has the potential to create crop or plant damage, human hazards or other detrimental environmental impacts.  The deposition and drift of aerially applied crop protection materials is influence by a number of factors including equipment setup and operational parameters, spray material characteristics, and meteorological effects.  This work focuses on evaluating the meteorological influences on the transport and ultimate fate of applied materials.  The data presented results from an ongoing set of field trials designed to explore the relationship between atmospheric conditions and the transport and ultimate fate of aerial sprays.  The ongoing field collections are targeted to collected data spanning a variety of seasons and meteorological conditions.  Though the presented results cover a limited range of meteorological conditions, the trends demonstrated hold from the standpoint of the system physics, and provide applicators with a further understanding of the relationships between spray transport and deposition and local meteorology.

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