Highway Air Pollution Dispersion Modeling : Preliminary Evaluation of Thirteen Models

Thirteen highway air pollution dispersion models have been tested, using a portion of the Airedale air quality data base. The Transportation Air Pollution Studies (TAPS) System, a data base management system specifically designed for evaluating dispersion models, has been used in the testing process. Because of inadequacies in the Airedale data, it proved necessary to abandon the original plan to test the accuracy of model predictions, and instead to adopt the approach of treating the data as a synthetic data sample for use in determining how closely the model predictions agree with one another. Five models (three Gaussian and two Conservation of Mass) emerged as Consensus Models. However, the limited range of the data elements in this sample causes this finding to be preliminary. Further experiments with synthetic data are planned to extend the range of applicability of these initial results, pending the availability of highway air quality data suitable for model validation.