Topics in Applied Dispersion Modeling

The preceding chapters have laid the foundation for the material presented in this chapter. Here, I shall show how the ideas described earlier can be used to develop practical air pollution models. I shall focus on three topics that are considered important in applied dispersion modeling. The first is dispersion in coastal areas. The recent interest in this subject has been stimulated by offshore drilling for oil. Most of the models developed to estimate the impact of these offshore activities use dispersion parameterizations that are strictly applicable to sources over land. In this chapter I shall emphasize the need to relate the dispersion to the physics of the over-water boundary layer, which differs from that over land. A realistic dispersion model must also treat the sharp change in boundary layer structure as air flows from water to land. I discuss methods to incorporate this transition into models and also discuss estimating the height of the coastal boundary layer, one of the critical inputs to a shoreline dispersion model.