Atmospheric Modeling and AnalysisDevelopment, Application, and Evaluation of Air Quality, Meteorological, and Emissions ModelsAir quality models are tools to assess impacts from pollutant sources, develop an understanding of air pollution problems, design and evaluate pollution control strategies, and estimate the impact of emission growth and controls on future air quality. Meteorological models estimate transport and dispersion parameters that affect air quality. Emissions models provide estimates of the amounts and types of gases and particles emitted into the atmosphere by pollution sources. Emissions and meteorological estimates provide inputs to air quality models, which simulate physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere to estimate air quality. Over the past two decades, there has been a marked shift in air quality modeling emphasis from estimating the impact of single sources or groups of sources on nearby receptors to estimating regional impacts from all sources. Many of the early air quality problems, such as exceedances of the SO2, NO2, CO, lead, and TSP standards, have been eliminated. However, persistent elevated levels of ozone and PM10 continue to exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). In addition, regional haze continues to be a recognized problem, and the longer-term (8-hour) ozone and fine particulate (PM2.5) standards will bring even more areas into nonattainment status. STI scientists are active in the development, application, and evaluation of air quality and meteorological models. STI offers the following atmospheric modeling services:
STI has a number of models and modeling tools available. Key Personnel
Example Projects
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