Abstract
The accuracy of air pollutants dispersion modelling results depends on the quality of the input data, including the representativeness of the meteorological data. The paper presents the results of the AERMOD model validation using data from Tracy Power Plant experiment (Nevada, USA) with various meteorological data sources, including WRF modelling system outputs. The highest efficiency of the AERMOD model performance was found using site-specific meteorological data and the results from the WRF model. In general, the AERMOD modelling system inadequately represents the concentration levels of tracer gas (SF6 ) at receptors situated below the emitter height in areas of complex topography.
Highlights
AERMOD is an air pollutant dispersion model developed by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) / Environmental Protection Agency (U.S EPA) for regulatory purposes in the near field studies and complex terrain [1]
Near surface wind field varies significantly in complex terrain, as it highly depends on the terrain features and local airflows induced by cyclic changes in the amount of energy reaching the surface of the earth [20, 21]
The WRF model performance was considered to be acceptable, as the values of wind field displacement calculated at 10 m a.g.l. do not exceed the spatial resolution of modelling domains
Summary
AERMOD is an air pollutant dispersion model developed by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) / Environmental Protection Agency (U.S EPA) for regulatory purposes in the near field studies (up to 50 km) and complex terrain [1]. It is a steady-state model, in which the plume of emitted pollutants spreads both horizontally and vertically in accordance with the Gaussian distribution [2]. The model is adapted for air pollutant dispersion modelling in complex terrain with the variability of vertical wind profile, temperature and turbulences in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) taken into account [3]. The results of calculations using prognostic meteorological models are increasingly used as input data to the AERMOD model [8,9,10,11]
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