The following text is the section 'Overview' from the
proceedings of the workshop "Objectives for Next
Generation of Practical Short-Range Atmospheric Dispersion
Models".
The workshop was organized by DCAR (Danish Centre for Atmospheric Research).
The proceedings are now out of print, but certain sections of the proceedings are available via the Word Wide Web.
Contents of this document
H.R. Olesen, National Environmental Research Institute,
Denmark
T. Mikkelsen, Risų National Laboratory, Denmark
The present workshop - "Objectives for Next Generation of
Practical Short-Range Atmospheric Dispersion Models" - has
come about as a result of an action started in 1991 for increased
cooperation and harmonisation within atmospheric dispersion
modelling. This action is experienced as particularly relevant at
the present time, because recent developments in dispersion
science have paved the way for a new generation of models with
physically more justifiable parameterisations of dispersion
processes. Moreover, recent improvements in computer skills and
the widespread availability of small personal computers have
furthered the practical use of such models.
The focus of the workshop was on the management of model
development and the definition of model objectives,
rather than on detailed model contents. It was the intention to
identify actions that can be taken in order to improve the
development and use of atmospheric dispersion models.
The workshop dealt with two types of models, namely models
for regulatory purposes and models for real-time
applications.
The workshop program consisted of lectures and discussions in
plenum as well as work groups where the following topics were
treated:
Work Group I: Scientific basis for next-generation models. Work Group II: Requirements concerning model capabilities and model output. Work Group III: Data bases and principles for model evaluation.
The workshop was directed towards an audience of both model developers and model users. It attracted approximately 120 participants from many different, mainly European, countries and with different backgrounds, as can be seen in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1: Distribution of participants by country.
More details on the background and the objectives of the workshop can be found in Paper 1 (by H.R. Olesen) in this volume.
The present volume consists of the following material:
The discussions opened up for a broad exchange of opinions.
They reflected the fact that the participants had a variety of
backgrounds. Thus, not all relevant matters concerning practical
short-range dispersion models could be treated in depth. However,
a number of important problems were identified, and some were
discussed in detail, pointing to further work needed.
There was a consensus among the participants at the workshop that
the presently used regulatory models are in principle outdated.
This was expressed in a resolution passed by the participants
during the final session, with the following wording:
The Commission of European Communities is asked to promote actions toward:
As to the discussions in the work groups, some important
conclusions are stated below. More details can be found in the
summaries of the work groups and elsewhere in the proceedings.
A question often raised in the discussion was "Why are
new models needed?". Every model user has certain
requirements to models, and key questions to be answered by the
modelling community are "How well do existing and
forthcoming models fit the various needs? Where can improvements
be made?"
From the discussions it appeared that the question of how well
the models are fit for purpose is not at all easy to answer.
Generally, models are developed and documented in a rather
disorganized manner, and there seems to be a lack of basic
standards and tools which would make it feasible to make
statements on model merits in a satisfactory way. One major
problem in the present situation is that current models have
severe shortcomings of which the users are often unaware. Also,
models are often used outside of their proper field of
applicability.
In order to improve the "modelling culture" several
actions were suggested. These are presented in the work group
summaries; here, some of the most important are summarized:
A contribution towards a more systematic model evaluation procedure will be a workshop planned for September 1993 on "Scientific Intercomparison of Advanced Practical Atmospheric Dispersion Models". The planning of this workshop was discussed in Work Group III.
We hope that the reader will feel inspired to go on spending some time on the many interesting papers contained in this volume.
The editors