Meteorology of Air Pollution

Meteorology is the study of the dynamics of the atmosphere. Meteorological scales of motion can be categorized as follows (see Section 1.11)  

Macroscale. Phenomena occurring on scales of thousands of kilometers, such as semipermanent high- and low-pressure areas that reside over the oceans and continents. (The term synoptic is commonly used to denote macroscale.) 

Microscale. Phenomena occurring on scales of the order of 1 km, such as the meandering and dispersion of a chimney plume and the complicated flow regime in the wake of a large building. 

Each of these scales of motion plays a role in air pollution, although over different periods of time. For example, micrometeorological effects take place over scales on the order of minutes to hours, whereas mesoscale phenomena influence transport and dispersal of pollutants over hours to days. Finally, synoptic scales of motion have characteristic times of days to weeks. The term long-range transport commonly refers to transport on the synoptic scale. 

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By virtue of its division into six sections, this text may be used in several ways. Part I, by itself, provides the material for a short course to introduce a diverse group of students to the subject—with the other five parts serving as a built-in reference book. Parts I, II, and II, which define the problem, can provide the basis for a semester s work, while Parts IV, V, and VI, which resolve the problem, provide the material for a second semester s work. Part IV may well be used separately as the basis for a course on the meteorology of air pollution, and the book as a whole may be used for an intensive one-semester course. 

Formation, growth, dynamics, thermodynamics, and properties of aerosols Meteorology of air pollution... 

Air pollution meteorology came of age and, by 1980, mathematical models of the pollution of the atmosphere were being energetically developed. A start had been made in elucidating the photochemistry of air pollution. Air quality monitoring systems became operational throughout the world. A wide variety of measuring instruments became available. 

Turner, D. B, Meteorological fundamentals, in "Meteorological Aspects of Air Pollution—Course Manual. Air Pollution Training Institute, Office of Manpower Development, Office of Air Programs. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. 

Zannetti, P., Tombach, I. H., and Cvencek, S. ]., An analysis of visual range in the eastern United States under different meteorological regimes. /, Air Pollut. Control 39,... 

Hansen, D. A., Puckett, K. ]., Jansen, ]. ]., Lusis, M., and Vickery, J. S., The Eulerian Model Evaluation Field Study (EMEFS). Paper 5.1, pp 58-62, in "Preprints, Seventh Joint Conference on Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with AWMA," Jan. 14-18, 1991, New Orleans. American Meteorological Society, Boston, 1991. 

This chapter provides an introduction to basic concepts of meteorology necessary to an understanding of air pollution meteorology without specific regard to air pollution problems. The relationship of meteorology to air pollution is discussed in the following four chapters. 

Bhunvralkar, C. M., Johnson, W. B., Mancuso, R. L., Thuillier, R. A., Wolf, D. E., and Nitz, K. C., Interregional exchanges of airbom sulfur pollution and deposition in Eastern North America, in "Conference Papers, Second Joint Conference on Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology." American Meteorological Society, Boston, 1980, pp. 225-231. 

Bowne, N. E., Validation and performance criteria for air quality models, in "Conference Papers, Second Joint Conference on Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology." American Meteorological Society, Boston, 1980, pp. 614-626. 

Huber, A. H., Incorporating building/terrain wake effects on stack effluents, pp. 353-356 in Preprints, Joint Conference on Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology. November 29-December 2, 1977, Salt Lake City, UT. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, 1977. 

Climatology refers to averaged or analyzed meteorology over a period of record, usually several years. Air pollution climatology involves meteorological variables that are important in air pollution. Alternatively, it is the interpretation of air pollution data from a meteorological perspective. 

Figure 4. Role of meteorological parameters on transport of air pollutants.

Erode, R.W., 1991. A Comparison of SCREEN Model Dispersion Estimates with Estimates From a Refined Dispersion Model. Seventh Joint Conference on Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology with A WMA, 93-96. 

Snyder, W. H., and R. E. Lawson. 1994. Wind tunnel measurements of flow fields m the vicinity of buildings. In Sth Joint Conference on Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology.. Anien-can Meteorological. Society and the Air and Waste Management Association. 

Air quality simulation models for photochemical pollutants were reviewed by Johnson et al. for a new edition of Air Pollution. Some of the models developed for simulating photochemical smog were reviewed from the viewpoints of module logic and evaluation. The Los Angeles-based developments were outlined, including the format and preprocessing of emission inventory data and meteorologic data. Lumped-param-... 

Nappo, C. J., Jr. A method for evaluating the accuracy of air pollution prediction models, pp. 325-329. In Preprints. Symposium on Atmospheric Diffusion and Air Pollution of the American Meteorological Sodety, Santa Barbara, California, September 9-13, 1974. Boston American Meteorological Sodety, 1974. 

Neiburger, M., J. G. Edinger, and H. C. Chin. Meteorological Aspects of Air Pollution and Simulation Models of Diffusion, Transport and Reactions of Air Pollution. Task Force No. 4. In Project Clean Air. Task Force Assessments. Vol 4. Riverside University of CalifomU, 1970. [60 pp.]... 

Pattern recognition methods have been used for the description of air pollution in the industrialized region at the estuary of the river Rhine near Rotterdam. A selection of about eight chemical and physical-meteorological features offers a possibility for a description that accounts for out 70% of the information that is ccmprised in these features with two parameters only. Prediction of noxious air situations scmetimes succeeds for a period of at most four hours in advance. Seme-times, hewever, no prediction can be made. Investigations pertaining to the correlation between air conpo-sition and complaints on bad smell by inhabitants of the area show that, apart frem physical and chemical descriptors, other features are also involved that depend on human perception and bdiaviour. 

Pattern recognition offers a useful tool for the description of air pollution in industrialized areas. Depending on the weather conditions, sanetimes even a prediction of situations with bad-smelling air may be obtained. However, when the weather conditions are unstable, no valid prediction is possible, i rt fran physical, meteorological and chemical features, other factors must be accounted for to predict the burden felt by people living in the area. 

A concept that is very useful in relating meteorological conditions to the mixing and transport of air pollutants is that of potential temperature. Potential temperature (9) is defined as the temperature an air parcel of temperature T and pressure P would have if it were expanded or compressed under adiabatic conditions to some reference pressure P ). 

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