Climatological variability in regional air pollution
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- US Department of Energy, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Fossil Energy
Although some air pollution modeling studies examine events that have already occurred (e.g., the Chernobyl plume) with relevant meteorological conditions largely known, most pollution modeling studies address expected or potential scenarios for the future. Future meteorological conditions, the major pollutant forcing function other than emissions, are inherently uncertain although much relevant information is contained in past observational data. For convenience in our discussions of regional pollutant variability unrelated to emission changes, we define meteorological variability as short-term (within-season) pollutant variability and climatological variability as year-to-year changes in seasonal averages and accumulations of pollutant variables. In observations and in some of our simulations the effects are confounded because for seasons of two different years both the mean and the within-season character of a pollutant variable may change. Effects of climatological and meteorological variability on means and distributions of air pollution parameters, particularly those related to regional visibility, are illustrated. Over periods of up to a decade climatological variability may mask or overstate improvements resulting from emission controls. The importance of including climatological uncertainties in assessing potential policies, particularly when based partly on calculated source-receptor relationships, is highlighted.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31-109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 94593
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/ER/CP-86469; CONF-9506191-3; ON: DE95013523; TRN: 95:018453
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 6. international meeting on statistical climatology, Galway (Ireland), Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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