Applications of pollutant frequency distributions

Journal Article · Thu Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1979 · J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00022470.1979.10470788· OSTI ID:6468598

Venkatram, A

Analyses of pollutant concentration observations have shown that data from a wide variety of locations can be described by simple frequency distributions. Concentrations in urban areas are found to follow a two parameter lognormal distribution while the data associated with isolated point sources can be characterized by an exponential distribution. The three cases considered in this note clearly show the potential usefulness of pollutant frequency distributions. The exponential distribution is particularly useful because rough estimates of F(o) and anti c can be made fairly easily. This is a desired feature in view of the fact that workers in air pollution often need back-of-the-envelope estimates of concentrations. In this note, it is not suggested that one should be able to compute F(o) and anti c without detailed consideration of micrometeorology. However, the importance of pollutant frequency distributions in routine air quality impact studies is pointed out.

• Research Organization: Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto
• OSTI ID: 6468598
• Journal Information: J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States) Vol. 29:3; ISSN JPCAA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
DATA
DISTRIBUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
INFORMATION
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MONITORING
NUMERICAL DATA
POLLUTION
THEORETICAL DATA
VARIATIONS