AERMOD Course in Toronto Full! Additional Date Announced

Our 2-day AERMOD course in Toronto on January 24-25, 2008 is full. To meet demand, we have added another 2-day AERMOD course in Toronto on March 27-28, 2008. If you are interested in attending our March course, please contact us at training@weblakes.com or check the Upcoming Courses section on our website to register.

Lakes Environmental at EUEC Conference in Tucson, AZ

Mr. Ryan Freedman and Mrs. Julie Swatson will be in booth 106 at the 11th Annual Energy and Environment Conference from January 27-30, 2008. At the booth, you can see demonstrations of our products and have your questions answered. For more details about the conference, see their website at: www.euec.com/default.aspx

Clarification of the Regulatory Status of Proprietary Versions of AERMOD

On December 14^th, 2007, the U.S. EPA released a memorandum clarifying the regulatory status of proprietary versions of the AERMOD model, as outlined in Appendix W.

ISC-AERMOD View^TM, a graphical user interface (GUI) for the ISCST3 and AERMOD models from Lakes Environmental, uses the original U.S. EPA model executables without any alterations. For this reason, you can use ISC-AERMOD View confident that you are using the approved U.S. EPA AERMOD model.

If you have any concerns about the memorandum, and how it applies to ISC-AERMOD View, please contact us at support@weblakes.com and we will be happy to discuss it with you.

For more information on the U.S. EPA memorandum, please see the "Recent Additions" section of the SCRAM website: www.epa.gov/scram001/

Lakes Environmental Closed for New Ontario Family Day Holiday

The Ontario Government recently announced a new holiday, Family Day. This year, the holiday will fall on February 18^th, 2008, and Lakes Environmental's offices will be closed. If you have any pressing needs during that time, please email us at support@weblakes.com and we will contact you February 19^th, 2008 when we re-open.

We’ve set a number of training dates for 2008, with additional courses to be announced soon! Be sure to register in advance; spots are limited.

AERMOD Courses

For more information on the above courses, such as registration information, location, and course outlines, please visit our web site: www.weblakes.com/course.

AERMOD Output Types

Part 2: Output Files

In this modeling tip, we will continue to look at the different types of outputs available from the US EPA AERMOD model. In this tip, we will consider 3 of the secondary output files:

• Contour plot files (PLOTFILE)
• Threshold violation files (MAXIFILE)
• Post-Processing files (POSTFILE)

Example Project

In order to illustrate the different output files, we will again consider a simple example project. There are 4 receptors in the project and we are measuring the 8-hour average over 2 days (6 values at each receptor).

The calculated concentrations (in µg/m3) are as follows:

Contour Plot Files (PLOTFILE)

The contour plot file contains concentration (and other) values at each receptor for the primary purpose of plotting contours.

The syntax in the input file to create a contour plot file is as follows:

Where:

Aveper = the averaging period to be considered
Grpid = the name of the source group to be used
Hivalu = a number from 1 to 10 indicating whether the 1st highest, 2nd highest etc. should be output
Filnam = the name of file that will be created.
Funit (optional) = input that assigns a file unit to the file; this option is for advanced users only.

When the Aveper is ANNUAL or PERIOD, Hivalu should be omitted.

Example:

To create a contour plot file of the 1st highest 8-hour average for source group ALL in our example project:

The file Example.PLT will look like this:

Aside from reporting the 1st high 8-hour value for each receptor, there is also space for elevation and hill heights for an elevated project, and flagpole heights are reported. The date and time at which each concentration occurred is also reported; the hour value is from the end of the averaging period.

Note that concentrations at different receptors occur at different times. A common misconception when viewing contours created from a plot file is that it is a snapshot in time. Contours from a plot file do not represent a single time period.

Threshold Violation Files (MAXIFILE)

The syntax in the input file to create a threshold violation file is as follows:

Aveper, Grpid, Filnam and Funit are all as described above. Thresh is the value of the threshold for which you wish to report violations.

Example:

To create a threshold violation file for our example project, with a threshold of 100µg/m3:

The file Example.MAX will look like this:

We can see the date time and location of each exceedance of our 100µg/m3 threshold.

Post Processing Files (POST FILE)

Post processing files contain concurrent results at each receptor (i.e. all results at each receptor) and are typically used for post processing.

The syntax in the input file to create a post file is as follows:

Once again Aveper, Grpid, Filnam and Funit are all as described above.

Format is used to specify the format of the post file and has a value of unform or plot.
Plot will produce a formatted text file of x and y receptor locations along with concentrations.
Unform will create an unformatted file that is not readable as text.

Example:

To create a post file for source group ALL and an 8-hour average:

The file Example.POS will look like this:

Concentration values at each receptor, for each hour can be seen in the file.

Note that the size of post files is dependent on the number of receptors and the number of hours in the run and can become very large.

Notes

• The command line that creates each of these three files can be repeated in the input file to create multiple files for different source groups, averaging periods etc.
• If the project includes deposition both the contour plot file and the post file will report these values.


• For users of ISC-AERMOD View, all of the output files described above can be easily created through the Output Pathway.

Remember: We are currently accepting submissions for the Monthly Modeling Tip that appears in our newsletters.  If you have a modeling tip that may benefit a variety of people, please send it to us at support@weblakes.com. Your name and the name of your organization will appear below the tip providing you with greater exposure.

First-ever Study to Link Increased Mortality Specifically to Carbon Dioxide Emissions

January 4, 2008 - A Stanford scientist has spelled out for the first time the direct links between increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and increases in human mortality, using a state-of-the-art computer model of the atmosphere that incorporates scores of physical and chemical environmental processes. The new findings, to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, come to light just after the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent ruling against states setting specific emission standards for this greenhouse gas based in part on the lack of data showing the link between carbon dioxide emissions and their health effects.
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2008 to be in Top 10 Warmest Years Say Forecasters

January 3, 2008 - LONDON (Reuters) - 2008 will be slightly cooler than recent years globally but will still be among the top 10 warmest years on record since 1850 and should not be seen as a sign global warming was on the wane, British forecasters said.

The Met Office and experts at the University of East Anglia on Thursday said global average temperatures this year would be 0.37 of a degree Celsius above the long-term 1961-1990 average of 14 degrees and be the coolest since 2000.
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Arizona Joins 13 States in Lawsuit of EPA Over Greenhouse Gas Rules

January 2, 2008 - SACRAMENTO – California and 14 other states filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday for denying their right to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions on cars, trucks and SUVs, challenging the Bush administration's conclusion that states have no business setting emission standards. Arizona announced that it and 13 other states were joining California's suit, which was anticipated after the EPA denied California's request Dec. 19. The lawsuit was filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
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Natural Causes May Also Play Role in Arctic Thaw

January 2, 2008 - WASHINGTON - There's more to the recent dramatic and alarming thawing of the Arctic region than can be explained by man-made global warming alone, a new study found. Nature is pushing the Arctic to the edge, too.

There's a natural cause that may account for much of the Arctic warming, which has melted sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature. New research points a finger at a natural and cyclical increase in the amount of energy in the atmosphere that moves from south to north around the Arctic Circle.
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Business and Climate Change - Shifting Locus of Leadership

January 2, 2008 - VANCOUVER, January 2, 2008 (GLOBE-Net) - One of the less reported events of the recent United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali Indonesia was the contributions made by the international business community toward efforts to deal with climate change. A Nine Point Summary of the Bali Global Business Day presented by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) echoes comments that have been made in Canada and elsewhere by business leaders who are critical of governmental inaction in dealing with what they perceive as the most pressing global issue of our time.
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Beijing Introduces Cleaner Fuel Standards

January 1, 2008 - BEIJING (Reuters) - China has introduced cleaner fuel standards in its capital Beijing, its latest effort to curb the city's notorious pollution ahead of the Olympic Games in August.

Under the new standards, retailers will be required to supply gasoline and diesel equivalent to the Euro IV standard, a move that will cut emissions of acid rain-causing sulphur dioxide by 1,840 tonnes, the China Daily said on Wednesday, citing Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau.
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Here are a few conferences and trade shows coming up in the next few months:

*** Lakes is attending: EUEC, GLOBE 2008, and CANECT