Atmospheric pollutant dispersion models such as CALPUFF and AERMOD are models that simulate the dispersion of different atmospheric pollutants or odours, released by an emitting source.
Dispersion models require meteorological data as input to run. The meteorological data necessary to run these models can be obtained from meteorological models or data from meteorological stations.
Meteorological models allow us to obtain a large amount of data in a grid of points located anywhere in the world. Moreover, hundreds of meteorological variables are provided by meteorological models, some of the unmeasurable by meteorological stations, but key input parameters for are necessary atmospheric pollutant dispersion models such as CALPUFF or AERMOD.
Data obtained from meteorological stations is only referred to a single geographical point, which usually is not representative for all the dispersion area.. In addition, data is only available for a few variables and for layers close to surface.
METEOSIM has a large experience generating meteorological data around the world through the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-ARW) for air pollutant dispersion projects carried out with the CALPUFF or AERMOD model. This data can be generated with different resolutions according to the client’s needs to have more precise meteorological data to perform the project. In addition to that, Meteosim can perform the following actions to improve the quality of modelled meteorological data:
- Integration of high-resolution physiographic bases: it allows a more reliable representation of the topographic features of the location where the project will be carried out and improves the quality of the modeled meteorological data.
- Definition of the optimal domain of the modelled area to improve the meteorological data of the area where the project is located, it’s important to include the most important geographical elements that can influence the climatology of the area (mountains, oceans, …)
- Validation of the meteorological data generated with the model through the comparison with the data registered by the official meteorological stations located within the modelling domain.
- Assimilation of data from official meteorological stations available within the simulation domain to improve the representativeness of the data that will be used for the dispersion model.
Implementing the mentioned options allows us to improve the quality of the data calculated by the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-ARW and hence, improving the Dispersion modelling of atmospheric pollutants, using the CALPUFF model or the AERMOD model.
