Air Pollution Climatology Around an Isolated Point Source Using Convective Scaling Parameters

摘要

An air pollution climatology, which incorporated convective scaling parameters, is used to investigate the conditions associated with hourly sulfur dioxide concentrations from a coal-fired power plant. One year of data from the Paradise power plant in central Kentucky (U.S.A.) was analyzed. Variables which were examined included emission rate, plume rise, wind speed, wind direction, stability class, convective scaling velocity, and similarity categories. The results show the meteorological conditions leading to high surface concentrations are the daytime hours having neutral/unstable atmospheric stability, light winds, and effective plume height to mixing height ratios typically greater than 0.85. In more than half of the 30 hours of highest observed concentrations, the atmospheric conditions satisfy the criteria for mixed-layer scaling.