Meteorological and Air Dispersion Modeling Methodology
B.1 Model Selection
The selection of an air dispersion model depends on many factors, such as, the nature of the pollutant (e.g., gaseous, particulate, reactive, inert), the characteristics of emission sources (point, area, volume, or line), emission source and receptor relationship, the meteorological and topographic complexities of the area, the complexity of the source distribution, the spatial scale and resolution required for the analysis, the level of detail and accuracy required for the analysis, and averaging times to be modeled. Several models approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and other groups are available to quantify pollutant impacts from the diesel particulate matter (diesel PM) sources near and in the West Oakland community. These models include: ISCST3, AERMOD, ASPEN, CALPUFF, UTM-TOX, and CAMx. For this study we have selected the CALPUFF model. Below, we describe each model and discuss its application...