www.webMET.com - your meteorological resource center
United States
Canada
EPA Models
Wind Rose
Percentiles
Met Station
Met Monitoring Guide
Met Data
Modeling
Digital Terrain Data
Books
Videos
Met Facts
Forecast
Links
About WebMET.com
Contact Us



3.1 Representativeness

One of the most important decisions in preparing for an air quality modeling analysis involves the selection of the meteorological data base; this is the case whether one is selecting a site for monitoring, or selecting an existing data base. These decisions almost always lead to similar questions: “Is the site (are the data) representative?” Examples eliciting a negative response abound; e.g., meteorological data collected at a coastal location affected by a land/sea breeze circulation would generally not be appropriate for modeling air quality at an inland site located beyond the penetration of the sea breeze. One would hope that such examples could be used in formulating objective criteria for use in evaluating representativeness in general. Though this remains a possibility, it is not a straight forward task - this is due in part to the fact that representativeness is an exact condition; a meteorological observation, data base, or monitoring site, either is, or is not representative within the context of whatever criteria are prescribed. It follows that, a quantitative method does not exist for determining representativeness absolutely. Given the above, it should not be surprising that there are no generally accepted analytical or statistical techniques to determine representativeness of meteorological data or monitoring sites.

3. SITING AND EXPOSURE 
 3.1 Representativeness 
     3.1.1 Objectives for Siting 
     3.1.2 Factors to Consider  
 3.2 Simple Terrain Locations 
     3.2.1 Speed and Wind Direction  
     3.2.2 Temperature, Temperature Difference, and Humidity
     3.2.3 Precipitation  
     3.2.4 Pressure 
      3.2.5 Radiation 
 3.3 Complex Terrain Locations  
     3.3.1 Wind Speed  
     3.3.2 Wind Direction 
     3.3.3 Temperature Difference 
  3.4 Coastal Locations
 3.5 Urban Locations 
 3.6 Recommendations


webgis.com
Free Digital
Terrain Data &
GIS Resources



lakes
Leading Air Dispersion Modeling & Risk Assessment Software



courses
calpuff view
CALPUFF View
Advanced Air Dispersion Model


HOME | ABOUT | MET STATION EQUIPMENT
METFACTS | BOOKS | VIDEOS | FORECAST

Copyright © 2002 WebMET.com - Disclaimer