Lagrangian modeling of transport and dispersion of air constituents

Abstract

Numerical models simulating the transport and dispersion of gaseous or particulate pollutants support the understanding of long-distance transport processes and are a valuable tool in various scientific and civil applications. Here the basic principles of Lagrangian trajectory and dispersion models and the major contributing physical processes are outlined: advection, dispersion, deposition, wash-out and settling and how they are implemented in the case of the HYSPLIT model, which is described here as a typical representative of this model class. Three recent applications of the model follow.