Forest protection staff win superior paper award

1 May 2018

Scion paper Influence of a young Pinus radiata canopy on aerial spray drift will receive a 2018 ASABE Superior Paper Award.

The paper was co-authored by Brian Richardson, Tara Strand, Harold Thistle (US Forest Service), April Hiscox (University of South Carolina), Mark Kimberley and Wayne Schou.

Brian Richardson says he was pleasantly shocked to read the email saying that the recently published drift study paper had won an American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) award.

"This was a massive piece of work. We wanted to see if AGDISP, a model that simulates the landing position of aerial spray droplets, held under the turbulent conditions over a rough radiata pine canopy. We measured spray drift, the prevailing meteorological conditions, and turbulence using sonic anemometers.  

"We had challenges with the data but when it was averaged across replications we found AGDISP significantly overpredicted the quantity of airborne spray.  

"We also used backscatter LiDAR to quantify the height and density of the spray cloud at a central point. The LiDAR data suggested the spray cloud profile that was more complex than the AGDISP model prediction.

"This is good motivation to continue with this work and have another go at this experiment," says Brian

The authors will be honoured at the General Session Recognition Program to be held during the ASABE Annual International Meeting at 8:00am-8:55am on Monday, 30 July 2018 in Detroit, Michigan.  

ASABE members work in the fields of the production, transport, storage and use of renewable resources, with the goal of meeting humanity's most fundamental needs from biobased materials.

Richardson, B., Strand, T. M., Thistle, H., Hiscox, A., Kimberley, M. O., & Schou, W. C. (2017). Influence of a Young Pinus radiata canopy on aerial spray drift.  Transactions of the ASABE. 60(6): 1851-1861. (doi: 10.13031/trans.12497)