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UPDATING APPLIED DIFFUSION MODELS
Citation:
Weil, J. UPDATING APPLIED DIFFUSION MODELS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-85/327.
Description:
Most diffusion models currently used in air quality applications are substantially out of date with understanding of turbulence and diffusion in the planetary boundary layer. Under a Cooperative Agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Meteorological Society organized a workshop to help improve the basis of such models, their physics and hopefully their performance. Reviews and recommendations were made on models in three areas: diffusion in the convective boundary layer (CBL), diffusion in the stable boundary layer (SBL), and model uncertainty. Progress has been made in all areas, but it is most significant and ready for application to practical models in the case of the CBL. This has resulted from a clear understanding of the vertical structure and diffusion in the CBL, as demonstrated by laboratory experiments, numerical simulations, and field observations. Understanding of turbulence structure and diffusion in the SBL is less complete and not yet ready for general use in applications.