Tutorial for AERMOD View, an
interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Nima A-Mohajer
ENV 6146, Atmospheric
Dispersion Modeling
February 2010
http://www.weblakes.com/
Outline
 Introduction to AERMOD
 Installation, AERMOD View environment
 AERMET
 Making the model in AERMOD View
 AERMOD pathways
 AERMAP
 Running AERMOD View
Goal
 Pursuing an example for air dispersion modeling by using
the AERMOD short-term model
An introduction to AERMOD
AERMOD
stands for American Meteorological Society/ Environmental
Protection Agency Regulatory Model
 COMPONENTS
1) AERMET – a meteorological preprocessor
2) AERMAP – a terrain data preprocessor
3) AERMOD – a dispersion model
 SUPPORT TOOLS
1) AER-SURFACE – processes surface characteristics data
2) AER-SCREEN – provides a screening tool
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
AERMET environment
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Minimum AERMET input data
1) Hourly surface data
2) Upper air data
3) Location of the pertinent site, sectors and surface data
4) On-site data
 Hourly surface data
1) Cloud cover (Tenth)
2) Dry bulb temperature (o C)
3) Relative humidity (%)
4) Station pressure (mb)
7) Ceiling height (m)
8) Precipitation amount
(hundredths of inches)
9) Global horizontal radiation
(wh/m2)
5) Wind direction (deg)
6) Wins speed (m/s)
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
AERMET (Hourly surface data)
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Input hourly surface data
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Quality assessment feature
QA is an optional process helping potential problems in data to
be excluded or included.
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
AERMET (Upper air data)
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Input upper air data
How does it look after clicking preview button?
http://www.webmet.com/MetGuide/TD6200.html
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Quality assessment for upper data
QA is an optional process helping potential problems in data to
be excluded or included.
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Application site, sectors and surface parameters
Site of model (application site)
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Application site, sectors and surface parameters
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Application site, sectors and surface parameters
1) Albedo for each land type → reflective power of the surface
2) Bowen ratio for each land type → portion of transferred
energy from the surface to the atmosphere
3) Surface roughness foe each land type
A combination of
different types of land
use data may be used
for a particular case.
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Running the AERMET/Outputs
 Output files
1) Surface file, *.SFC
2) Profile file, *.PFL
3) Wind rose
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
AERMOD View
 Assumptions
3) SO2 as pollutant in flue gas
1) A factory in a rural area 4) Assumed value for stacks
2) 2 stacks with a building 5) Surface file, *.SFC
in between
6) Profile file, *.PFL
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Defining initial parameters
 UTM (Universal
Transverse Mercator)
Zones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Tran
sverse_Mercator_coordinate_system
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Defining initial parameters
 Site geometry
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
AERMOD environment
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Importing base map
 A raster map as an image file (JPEG, TIFF, DXF, …) should be
imported
 Import → Base maps…
 Then, map extents should be geo-referenced
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Importing stacks and building
 Extents of the building foundation and stacks are imported by
a DXF file. Import → base maps…
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Defining building
 Drawing tools
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Defining stacks
 Zooming to the extents of interest
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Defining stacks
 Drawing tools
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
3-D Visualization
Export → Google Earth
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
AERMOD pathways
1) Control pathway
2) Source pathway
3) Receptor pathway
4) Meteorology pathway
5) Output pathway
Control pathway
 Dispersion options
 Pollutant/Averaging
 Terrain options
Source pathway
 Source summary
 Building downwash
Receptor pathway
 Receptor summary
 Grids
Meteorological pathway
 Met input data
 Data period
 Wind speed categories
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Control pathway
1) Dispersion options
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Control pathway
2) Pollutant/Averaging
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Control pathway
2) Pollutant/Averaging

If the land use
types including
industrial,
commercial and
residential uses
account for 50% or
more of an area
within 3 km radius
from the source,
the site is classified
as urban;
otherwise, it is
classed as rural.
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Control pathway
3) Terrain options
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Source pathway
1) Source summary
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Source pathway
2) Building downwash
Will be calculated
later on by the
software
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Receptor pathway
1) Receptor summary
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Receptor pathway
2) Grids
or
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Meteorology pathway
1) Met input data
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Meteorology pathway
2) Data period
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Meteorology pathway
3) Wind speed categories
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Output pathway
1) Tabular outputs
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Terrain, (AERMAP processor)
 Terrain or AERMAP feature of AERMOD, is used for
processing the elevated terrains. It creates a digital terrain file
that covers modeling domain.
Digital Elevated Maps (DEM)
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Terrain, (AERMAP processor)
 Determining the extensions in DEM
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Terrain, (AERMAP processor)
 Import elevations/hill heights
Reviewing Receptor
pathway, Source pathway,
and Building Inputs, shows
the imported elevations
and hill heights generated
by AERMAP
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
AERMAP output
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Running BPIP
 BPIP is an acronym for Building Input Profile Program and it
is for obtaining building downwash calculation results.
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Running BPIP
 Run → BPIP
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Running AERMOD
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Final output
AERMOD View, an interface for US-EPA AERMOD Model
Thank you for your attention.