__NOTOC__ CALPUFF is an advanced, integrated Lagrangian puff modeling system for the simulation of atmospheric pollution dispersion distributed by the Atmospheric Studies Group at TRC Solutions. It is maintained by the model developers and distributed by TRC. The model has been adopted by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...

(EPA) in its ''Guideline on Air Quality Models'' as a preferred model for assessing long range transport of pollutants and their impacts on Federal Class I areas and on a case-by-case basis for certain near-field applications involving complex meteorological conditions. The integrated modeling system consists of three main components and a set of preprocessing and postprocessing programs. The main components of the modeling system are CALMET (a diagnostic 3-dimensional

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

model), CALPUFF (an air quality dispersion model), and CALPOST (a postprocessing package). Each of these programs has a

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

(GUI). In addition to these components, there are numerous other processors that may be used to prepare geophysical (land use and terrain) data in many standard formats, meteorological data (surface, upper air, precipitation, and buoy data), and interfaces to other models such as the Penn State/

NCAR The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundat ...

Mesoscale Model (MM5), the

National Centers for Environmental Prediction The United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) delivers national and global weather, water, climate, and space weather guidance, forecasts, warnings, and analyses to government agencies and private users. The centers f ...

(NCEP) Eta model and the RAMS meteorological model. The CALPUFF model is designed to simulate the dispersion of buoyant, puff or continuous point and area pollution sources as well as the dispersion of buoyant, continuous line sources. The model also includes

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for per ...

for handling the effect of downwash by nearby buildings in the path of the pollution plumes.

History

The CALPUFF model was originally developed by the Sigma Research Corporation (SRC) in the late 1980s under contract with the

California Air Resources Board The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is an agency of the government of California that aims to reduce air pollution. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air S ...

(CARB) and it was first issued in about 1990. The Sigma Research Corporation subsequently became part of Earth Tech, Inc. After the US EPA designated CALPUFF as a preferred model in their ''Guideline on Air Quality Models'', Earth Tech served as the designated distributor of the model. In April 2006, ownership of the model switched from Earth Tech to the TRC Environmental Corporation. More recently ownership transferred to E^xponent, who are currently (December 2015) responsible for maintaining and distributing the model.

References

External links

src.com: Official CALPUFF website
— ''ASG at TRC''.

{{Atmospheric, Oceanographic and Climate Models Air pollution Atmospheric dispersion modeling Air pollution in California Air pollution in the United States

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links