CMU Ammonia Emission Inventory for the Continental United States |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Numerous computer models have been developed to
predict airborne particle concentrations given source emissions and meteorology data as
inputs. The models have become somewhat sophisticated, with high-resolution outputs,
although the accuracy of the predictions from these models is only as good as the quality
of the input data. The quality of the meteorological data is generally good, as is the
quality of source emissions data for regulated species such as sulfur oxides and nitrogen
oxides. However, there are some chemical species that are not federally regulated and
thus emissions data are far less abundant. One such species is ammonia, which plays a
major role in the formation of airborne particles. Knowledge of ammonia emissions is
important in that an accurate characterization of airborne ammonia concentrations is
vital to the choice of control strategies.
Cliff Davidson's research group has developed a software application that generates an ammonia emission inventory for the continental United States based on user- defined input. Emission factors and activity levels are kept in easily modifiable input files. This structure makes it easy to perform sensitivity analyses and to update the inventory when new data become available. Version 3 of the CMU Ammonia Model has been completely rewritten in order to add several new features. Among these new features are:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Environmental Institute |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||