Modelling exercises

6th International Conference on

Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes

October 11-14, 1999, Rouen, France

The local organiser in France, CORIA, maintains a web site with information on the conference programme etc.

On the present server (located in Denmark) there is technical information on modelling exercises related to the conference, especially those dealing with the Model Validation Kit and the ASTM methodology. A meeting concerned with these subjects was convened in Rouen.

Note from February 2000:
The material on the present page was prepared before the Rouen conference. This page is maintained mainly for historical reasons and in order to avoid "dead links".

Announcement

As part of the preparations for the "Harmonisation..." conference in Rouen, interested participants are encouraged to work with some common tools for model evaluation which are available to the modelling community.

One set of tools is the existing "Model Validation Kit" which has been used for a number of "Harmonisation..." conferences, and which was last updated in June 1997. You may find information on the kit on the World Wide Web , as well as in a paper by Olesen (1998; see the reference list below). No specific exercises with the use of this kit are organised, but experiences with the use of the kit which are reported at the Rouen conference can be valuable to the modelling community.

Another set of tools is a draft ASTM "Standard Practice for Statistical Evaluation of Atmospheric Dispersion Models" (ASTM, 1998). Modellers are invited to work with the proposed ASTM methodology. The draft "Standard Practice" has been submitted for ballot in the ASTM, but has not yet been accepted. Before this methodology can mature into an established practice, it has to be tested by various modellers in order to illuminate problems and explore advantages and disadvantages compared to other methodologies. The essence of the methodology is explained in two papers for the previous "Harmonisation" conference in Rhodes (Irwin, 1998; Olesen, 1998). These papers also contain a discussion of outstanding problems with the use of the methodology. If you consider to work with the ASTM methodology, first look at the Web page "ASTM Standard Practice: Overview of materials".
Model intercomparison exercise (Podbielskistrasse exercise): The participants of the 6th "Harmonisation ..." conference and all of the modelling community are invited to participate in this exercise. It consists in a homework and a workshop during the conference. In the homework, the participants apply their methods of concentration predictions for the particular street canyon case using input data, given in the internet. The homework (results) should be submitted to the organisers of the exercise (BWPLUS and TRAPOS) by August 30, 1999 for a further compilation and intercomparison. Accompanying concentration measurements are currently ongoing; the results will be published after the modelling exercise is completed. For further information and input data and forms for the handing in of the results see http://bwplus.fzk.de/aktuell/aufrufe.htm..

References:

ASTM (1998), ‘Standard Practice for Statistical Evaluation of Atmospheric Dispersion Models’. Draft. 28pp. ASTM Designation Z6849Z. ASTM, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959, USA. Available from John Irwin, or can be downloaded from an FTP site (see the three-page note ASTM_NOTES.PDF 10 K)

Irwin, J.S. (1998), ‘Statistical Evaluation of Atmospheric Dispersion Models’. Presented at the 5th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purpose in Rhodes, May 1998. To be published in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution . Available from the author or as an Acrobat (PDF) file (137 K)

Olesen, H.R., 1998, 'Model Validation Kit - Status and Outlook.' Presented at the 5th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purpose in Rhodes, May 1998. Abstract and conclusions. The entire manuscript is available from the author or in Acrobat (PDF) format (180 K).

The Rouen conference is part of a series of conferences and other activities organised by the
Initiative on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes.
Go to the home page of the "Harmonisation..." initiative

This page is maintained by Helge Rørdam Olesen
It was last modified on February 16, 2000.

Published by the Department of Atmospheric Environment, National Environmental Research Institute (Denmark)