Meteorological factor

A railroad tank car has derailed and overturned, and some material is leaking out and apparently evaporating. The car is labeled "Toxic." In order to take appropriate emergency action, which meteorological factors would you consider and how would you assess them In addition to air pollutants, what meteorological factor has a profound effect on decreasing visibility, and what is the approximate threshold of its influence ... 

The effective height of an emission rarely corresponds to tlie physical height of tlie source or the stack. If tlie plume is caught in tlie turbulent wake of tlie stack or of buildings in the vicinity of tlie source or stack, tlie effluent will be mixed rapidl) downward toward the ground. If the plume is emitted free of these turbulent zones, a number of emission factors and meteorological factors influence tlie rise of the plume. 

FIGURE 2.3 The ability to detect trends in atmospheric emissions can be strongly affected by the distance from the source (top) and meteorological factors such as wind direction (bottom). These measurements were made near a Hg source in southeastern Idaho. (Source Abbott 2003, unpublished data, with permission.)... 

Paleotemperatures derived from noble gas analyses are potentially more meaningful than those from oxygen-deuterium analyses because the noble gas content is a direct measure of the temperature of the water at the time of infiltration rather than a complex function of geographic and meteorological factors as is the case with 2H and 180. Despite this potential superiority, few noble gas studies of water paleotemperatures have been published. Specifically, questions need to be answered relative... 

In another review, Hoffert discussed the social motivations for modeling air quality for predictive purposes and elucidated the components of a model. Meteorologic factors were summarized in terms of windfields and atmospheric stability as they are traditionally represented mathematically. The species-balance equation was discussed, and several solutions of the equation for constant-diffusion coefficient and concentrated sources were suggested. Gaussian plume and puff results were related to the problems of developing multiple-source urban-dispersion models. Numerical solutions and box models were then considered. The review concluded with a brief outline of the atmospheric chemical effects that influence the concentration of pollutants by transformation. 

Studies to date have demonstrated an extremely weak correlation (if any) between photochemical-oxidant pollution and hospital admissions. If such correlations do exist, observations must be carried out over considerably longer periods with adequate provisions for controlling confounding variables, such as meteorologic factors. 

Asthma, a disease featuring sudden and dramatic variations in respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function, is well known to be related to environmental factors in many cases. Many other factors, however, may play a significant role in the precipitation of asthma attacks, including meteorologic factors, emotional factors, infection, allergy, and physical activity. It has also been demonstrated that there is a significant ethnic variation in factors associated with acute asthma attacks. Nevertheless, between 2 and 5% of the population is subject to asthma attacks, so it has been examined as an indicator of health effects of photochemical-oxidant pollution. 

Clearly, the concentrations of pollutants in ambient air, and hence their impacts, are determined not only by their rates of emissions but also by the nature and efficiencies of their chemical and physical sinks, e.g., chemical transformations, as well as wet and dry deposition to the earth s surface. To a large extent, these competing processes are affected not only by direct dispersion and transport but also by such meteorological factors as temperature, sunlight intensity, and the presence of temperature inversions as well as clouds and fogs. 

The formation of thermal inversions is one of the most important meteorological factors contributing to air pollution problems in urban areas. There are two major sources of thermal inversions. Radiation (or... 

Because of the highly variable nature of precipitation events, quantitatively estimating wet deposition of pollutants is difficult. In addition to meteorological factors, parameters such as the solubility of the pollutant in ice, snow, and rain and how this varies with temperature and pH, the size of the water droplets, and the number present must also be considered for example, snow may scavenge some species more efficiently than rain. 

The STAR model is applied to build up the geographic patterns of solar UV radiation in Italy. The daily UV (290-325 nm) dose is calculated in a number of Italian sites taking into account the climatology of each site as well as the topographic features. The results are interpreted in terms of atmospheric and meteorological factors affecting UV radiation. 

Concentrations of contaminants in the atmosphere may vary significantly from time to time due to seasonal climatic variation, atmospheric turbulence, and velocity and direction of wind. The most important meteorological factors are (1) wind conditions and the gustiness of wind, (2) the humidity and precipitation, (3) the temperature, which varies with latitude and altitude, (4) barometric pressure (varying with the height above the ground), and (5) solar radiation and the hours of sunshine, which vary with the season. 

Ragland, K.W., Wilkening, K.E. Relationship between Mesoscale Acid Precipitation and Meteorological Factors. Initial Draft of the Effects of Acid Precipitation and Ecological Systems,... 

Start with all the potential predictors In a statistical package, the data are entered into five columns and then you will have to indicate that toxin is the dependent variable/response and the four meteorological factors the independent variables/ predictors. Generic output is shown in Table 14.7. 

Miller, J. M. Tellus. in press) have examined the transport of North American sulfur emissions across the north Atlantic Ocean to Europe. In a review of available precipitation-sulfate data from the north Atlantic and adjacent coastal regions, they report a concentration field consistent with known source distributions and meteorological factors. The excess sulfate concentration of marine background... 

Meteorological factors are also responsible for seasonal variability in the air spora. In most temperate areas, spore concentrations tend to increase in late spring often showing a significant correlation with increasing temperatures [13]. Many studies have shown highest levels of airborne spores typically... 

Li D-W, Kendrick B A year-rormd study on functional relationships of airborne fungi with meteorological factors. Int J Biometeorol 1995 39 74-80. 

Since such trace gases seem to be particularly efficient reactants for ions, it is conceivable that the tropospheric ion composition responds sensitively to aerosol conditions and meteorological factors. 

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