MODELING OF LOCAL CONDITIONS FOR THE DISPERSION OF POLLUTANTS IN URBAN AREAS

Abstract

Studies of air quality in urban areas show that human health is affected by pollutants emitted by various sources or resulting from chemical reactions between exhaust gases and the atmosphere. This leads to the need to quickly obtain practical solutions about emissions and their corresponding pollution levels. Assessment of the state of the air basin is carried out in two directions: field observations and mathematical modeling. The most effective method for solving this problem is the combined use of measurement techniques and models that describe the distribution of impurities. Mathematical models that integrate knowledge about the emissions and dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere are essential tools not only for estimating existing pollution levels, but also for predicting, for example, future air quality trends or identifying emission reduction strategies.The development of atmospheric models is carried out mainly in two directions. The first is to develop a theory of atmospheric diffusion. The models are based on the description of physical and chemical processes: calculation of emissions, atmospheric advection and dispersion, chemical transformation and deposition. This direction is more universal, since it allows one to study the distribution of impurities from sources of various types under different environmental characteristics. Another direction is associated mainly with the empirical-statistical analysis of the distribution of pollutants in the atmosphere and with the use for this purpose of interpolation models, mostly of the Gaussian type. Many currently existing atmospheric diffusion models that describe the transport and dispersion of pollutants in the city’s atmosphere cannot be used to quickly predict pollution levels, since they require a significant amount of time to perform calculations.