AERMOD View – Choosing Pollutants
February 2018
As the preferred air dispersion model for analysis of air pollutant concentrations in the ambient environment up to 50-km, AERMOD is used for a wide variety of buoyant and neutrally-buoyant releases. One recurring question about AERMOD is what pollutants it can (or cannot) model. Coded into the model is a list of pollutant types used to identify the pollutant being modeled for a particular run.
In AERMOD View the Pollutant Type list is available in the Control Pathway’s Pollutant / Averaging options.
In AERMOD View the Pollutant Type list is available in the Control Pathway’s Pollutant / Averaging options.
Pollutant ID List in AERMOD’s Control Pathway
Many of the types are treated as labels with no special meaning as chemical transformations are generally not treated by AERMOD. Some pollutant names, by themselves or in combination with other model options, will affect how AERMOD computes final results.
Don’t see the name of your specific pollutant or toxic in the list? Use the OTHER selection and define the name of your pollutant up to 8 characters.
- SO2
- Triggers the use of a 4-hour half-life decay when the Urban dispersion coefficient is used
- Computes distribution of daily maximum 1-hour concentrations in accordance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) when the 1-hour period is the only short-term averaging period
- NO2
- Required when using Tier 3 screening techniques, OLM or PVMRM
- Computes distribution of daily maximum 1-hour concentrations in accordance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) when the 1-hour period is the only short-term averaging period
- PM-2.5 NAAQS (i.e., PM-2.5, PM2.5, PM25 or PM-25):
- Restricts averaging periods to 24-hour and ANNUAL averages
- Limits meteorological data to complete years
- PM-10 NAAQS (Pre 97):
- For generating the high-sixth-high in five years
Don’t see the name of your specific pollutant or toxic in the list? Use the OTHER selection and define the name of your pollutant up to 8 characters.
OTHER Pollutant Type
