Visibility impairment assessment: Importance of using theoretically derived optical characterizations
Conference
·
OSTI ID:10169645
The 1990 federal amendments to the National Clean Air Act identified improvement of visibility as an important national goal. To help accomplish this goal, a national assessment of visibility impairment is being conducted for the US Department of Energy. The assessment examines the nature and extent of improvements in visual air quality that could result from major energy policy changes. Specifically, it is designed to assess the impact Of S0{sub 2}, NO{sub x} and VOC emission changes on visibility throughout the United States. A major objective of die ongoing work is to develop credible assessments that can be easily and meaningfully communicated to decision makers as well as to the scientific community. The overall assessment concept is outlined schematically. The visibility impairment assessment produces visibility patterns for a year at selected representative sites as a function of emissions and meteorological conditions. Annual cycles of visibility are generated from carefully selected observational and model data. The initial studies focus on individual sites and observation data. Later stages will employ more regional analyses with the help of more comprehensive modeling, tools. Results as well as a discussion of the implications for future characterizations at different locations through the US are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 10169645
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-SA--21568; CONF-930647--5; ON: DE93017147
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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