When using CALPUFF, modelers can add hourly background concentration or deposition flux values to the modeled results before averages are processed in CALPOST. Lakes Environmental added a Background Data File Maker utility to CALPUFF View to make this process even easier.
Following up on Lakes’ November webinar, you can purchase global AERMET-ready met data online from the WRF or MM5 meteorological models. Lakes utilizes the Mesoscale Model Interface Program (MMIF) to format prognostic meteorological model output for use in air quality models.
When conducting an air quality modeling analysis, you may be called on to compute concentrations at sensitive receptors. While specific definitions of sensitive receptors vary from one jurisdiction to the next, it most commonly refers to receptors used in a modeling analysis to represent a sensitive population. Examples include schools, daycare facilities, hospitals, care facilities, and more.
The Mesoscale Model Interface Program (MMIF) formats prognostic meteorological model (WRF, MM5) output for use in air quality models.
Previous Modeling Tips have looked at how to select pollutants in air quality models (AERMOD, CALPUFF). This month, we look at how to handle contaminants for a human health risk assessment project.
CALPUFF is an air dispersion model that advects ‘puffs’ of material emitted from modeled sources, simulating dispersion and transformation processes along the way. These puffs can be displayed graphically using debug information written to the main CALPUFF output file (CALPUFF.LST). With CALPUFF View, modelers can visualize puffs as animations in Google Earth.