Francoise R. Robe, Ph.D.

Dr. Robe is an air quality modeling specialist with over 20 years of experience in advanced meteorological and air quality dispersion modeling. She has managed and conducted air quality studies worldwide using the CALPUFF, MM5, WRF, CALMET, and HGSYSTEM models. These studies have been conducted for mines, aluminum smelters, power plants, offshore and onshore oil and gas facilities (upstream and downstream), fires, flares, and accidental dense-gas releases. She has pioneered developing integrated automated real-time and forecast air quality modeling systems.

Dr. Robe is one of the authors of CALMET, the meteorological model of the U.S. regulatory CALPUFF modeling suite, and has taught more than 20 CALMET-CALPUFF training courses for regulatory agencies, universities, consultants, and industry clients around the world. She has worked in the oil and gas industry as a reservoir engineer and an air quality and safety specialist and is familiar with upstream and downstream air quality and safety issues. She has worked and lived in Europe, the U.S., the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Canada.

Robe FR. Emergency Air Monitoring and Assessment System (EAMAS) detailed design. Prepared for Alberta Environment, #ASG-182017-1, April 2011.

Robe FR. Integrated air quality modeling for the oil and gas industry. Proceedings, 4th Specialty Conference on Environmental Progress in the Petroleum and Petrochemical Industries, AWMA, Bahrain, 2004.

Robe F, Scire J, Wu Z. Real time SO2 forecasting system with combined ETA analysis and CALPUFF modeling. Proceedings, 8th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes (Harmo 8), Sofia, Bulgaria, 2002.

Robe FR, Scire JS. Combining mesoscale prognostic and diagnostic wind models: A practical approach for air quality application in complex terrain. Preprints 10th Joint Conference on the Application of Air Pollution Meteorology, Phoenix, AZ, 1998.

Robe F, Emanuel KA. The effect of vertical wind shear on radiative-convective equilibrium states. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 2001; 58:1427–1455.

Scire J, Robe F, Strimaitis D. A user's guide for the CALMET meteorological model (Version 5), 2000.

Robe FR, Emanuel KA. Moist convective scaling: Some inferences from three-dimensional cloud ensemble numerical integrations. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences; 53:3265–3275, 1996.

Robe FR. Sea, sun and shear: A recipe for tropical rainbands. Oral paper, Proceedings, 7th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, Reading, UK, 1996.

Robe FR, Emanuel KA. Sensitivity of tropical convection to radiative forcing. Oral paper, Preprints of the 21st Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Miami, FL, 1995.

Presentations

Scire JS, Strimaitis DG, Robe FR. Evaluation of enhancements to the CALPUFF Model for offshore and coastal applications. Proceedings, 10th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes, Sissi (Malia), Crete, Greece, October 17-20, 2005.

Robe FR. Integrated air quality modeling for the oil and gas industry. Proceedings, 4th Specialty Conference on Environmental Progress in the Petroleum and Petrochemical Industries, AWMA, Bahrain, 2004.

Robe F, Scire J, Wu Z. Real time SO2 forecasting system with combined ETA analysis and CALPUFF modeling. Proceedings, 8th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes (Harmo 8), Sofia, Bulgaria, 2002.

Robe FR, Scire JS. Combining mesoscale prognostic and diagnostic wind models: A practical approach for air quality application in complex terrain. 10th Joint Conference on the Application of Air Pollution Meteorology, Phoenix, AZ, 1998.

Scire JS, Robe FR. Fine scale application of the CALMET Meteorological Model to a complex terrain site. AWMA's 90th Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, 1997.

Robe FR. Sea, sun and shear: A recipe for tropical rainbands. Oral paper, Proceedings, 7th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, 7A.12, Reading, UK, 1996.

Robe FR, Emanuel KA. Sensitivity of tropical convection to radiative forcing, oral paper. Preprints of the 21st Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, 5B.6, Miami, FL, 1995.

• Senior Project Manager, TRC Environmental Inc., Atmospheric Studies Group, Oman, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, 2006–2011
• Project Manager, Earth Tech Inc., Atmospheric Studies Group, Oman, 2001–2006
• Senior Environmental Consultant, Shell Global Solutions, Oman, 1999–2001
• Reservoir Engineer, Shell International E&P, The Netherlands, 1997–1999
• Air Quality Scientist, Earth Tech Inc., Atmospheric Studies Group, USA, 1996–1997

Managed and conducted the Feasibility and Detailed Design Studies for the Emergency Air Monitoring and Assessment System (EAMAS) in the Oil Sands Region in Northern Alberta, Canada. The EAMAS system will be used by both industry and government for forecasting and real-time prediction of air quality impacts, as well as assisting in real-time emergency planning and relief efforts.

Managed and conducted the development of a real-time air quality forecast system at Minera Escondida Limitada (MEL) copper mine in Chile. The system includes customized high-resolution numerical weather and air quality prediction, based on MM5–CALMET, actual mine emissions, and CALPUFF. The system is capable of on-the fly scenario modeling and includes a Graphical User Interface to display impacts of planned operations.

Managed the development of a new flare module for the CALPUFF system, including sub-hourly flare emission and variable meteorology interface with the enhanced Alberta ERCB_ Flare model.

Conducted the modeling to assess the health and safety risks of discharging emergency sour water into evaporative ponds at gas-oil separation plants in Saudi Arabia. Study included comparison and merging of near-field dense gas modeling of H2S using the HGSYSTEM and FLUENT models with CALPUFF modeling.

Managed and conducted an integrated MM5-CALMET-CALPUFF air quality study in the North Caspian Sea, including offshore and onshore gas-industry sources, normal operations, emergency situations, and fast-varying accidental releases.

Pioneered an integrated and automated forecast system, combining synoptic model forecast (ETA), fine-scale meteorological (CALMET) and dispersion (CALPUFF) SO2 modeling, and timely reporting to assist in making load reduction decisions. Developed a new forecast/no-observations (NO-OBS) version of CALMET, which allows the system to run in the absence of actual observations.

Developed enhanced technical algorithms for the CALMET meteorological model, including new overwater boundary-layer and mixing-height parameterizations as part of a three-year study to develop the next-generation regulatory air quality dispersion model for offshore and coastal applications.

Conducted an integrated MM5-CALPUFF air quality study for the Map Ta Phut industrial area in Thailand, including a model evaluation with actual time-varying emissions, and meteorological and monitoring observations of SO2, NOx, and PM.

Taught more than 20 CALMET-CALPUFF training courses for the U.S. EPA, universities, consultants, and industry clients around the world.

Conducted CALMET-CALPUFF modeling and source apportionment analysis of the Koniambo mining complex in New Caledonia (SO2, NOx, CO, PM, VOC, Ni, Pb, benzene, and deposition of toxic metals).

Managed a multi-disciplinary study of air quality issues in the South Durban airshed (South Africa), met with industrial and community stakeholders, proposed an enhanced dispersion modeling strategy, and managed its execution.

Managed the dispersion modeling study for the proposed Haima Power Plant (Oman) and conducted modeling of the normal operations, as well as accidental releases (venting and pipeline leaks).

Conducted CALMET and CALPUFF modeling of proposed natural gas development in the Southern Ute Indian reservation. Evaluated effects on visibility, air quality, and deposition on the Mesa Verde National Park and Weminuche Wilderness Area, using meteorological observations, MM4 model data, ambient concentration measurements, and visibility data.

Conducted meteorological and dispersion modeling of an aluminum reduction facility and background sources in a steep-walled valley. Optimized and refined CALMET and CALPUFF models for application to a fine grid scale resolution.

Conducted CALMET and CALPUFF modeling of an aluminum reduction facility and power plant. Evaluated the effects of anthropogenic heat fluxes, warm-water cooling pond, and site-specific land-use features on deposition and dispersion.

Consulted on optimizing reservoir dynamic models to increase oil and gas production and developed MoReS dynamic reservoir model.

Developed a 3D non-hydrostatic mesoscale model for application to tropical convective rainbands and hurricanes.

Developed integrated ocean-atmosphere models to investigate air/sea interactions. Integrated biological and physical ocean models to assess the effects of urban discharges on marine nutrients in the Bay of Villefranche, France.

• Air & Waste Management Association (Canadian Prairie and Northern Section-CPANS)