Harmonisation in the pre-processing of meteorological data for dispersion models

In the framework of COST, there has been an international action, COST 710, aimed at Harmonisation in the pre-processing of meteorological data for dispersion models.

COST 710 has been followed by a related action, COST 715, concerning Urban Meteorology applied to Air Pollution Problems.

A somewhat related action, COST 732, was started in 2005. COST 732 is entitled Quality Assurance and Improvement of Microscale Meteorological Models.

The present page is the entry to a set of Web pages concerning COST 710 (Harmonisation). Another set of Web pages concerns COST 715 (Urban Meteorology). These two sets of pages are maintained by the Department of Atmospheric Environment, NERI which was one of the participating institutions in both actions.

Information on the recent COST 732 is available through an entry at the offical COST site.


Contents of this document


What is COST?

COST is the acronyme (in French) for "European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research". It is a framework for international research and development cooperation, allowing to coordinate national research at European level. COST does not fund research as such, but coordination of research. COST includes as member states countries from the European Union, and a number of other European countries. More information is available at the official COST site. See also the section later on this page on COST links.


COST action 710 on meteorological preprocessors - in brief

Up-to-date dispersion models, which have a better representation of atmospheric physics than the previous models, require as meteorological input some fundamental atmospheric boundary-layer parameters that are not directly measured. These parameters include surface heat flux, friction velocity and boundary-layer height.

In 1994, the COST Technical Committee on Meteorology started an action on meteorological preprocessors used to provide such parameters. The action was labelled COST 710, "Harmonisation in the pre-processing of meteorological data for dispersion models". The action has ended, and the final report has been published (autumn 1998). Even after the end of the action, the present set of Web pages is being maintained in order to inform on the results of the action.

A popular description of the activities in COST 710 is available. The description was written by G. Cosemans, J. Erbrink, B.E.A. Fisher, J.G. Kretzschmar and D.J. Thomson in 1996. There is access to more technically oriented information from the sections below.

Another COST action which is related to COST 710 was initiated in 1998. The action was designated COST 715 and had the title Urban Meteorology applied to Air Pollution Problems.


Final report and other results of the COST 710 Action

Although the complete final report is not available electronically, the major part of the final report is available for download. The report provides an overview of preprocessing methods as well as a number of recommendations for the use of meteorological preprocessors.
Note that in August 2005 reports from several of the working groups have become available in electronic format.

Other results of the action are listed below


Workshop on Determination of Mixing Height

A workshop on "Determination of the Mixing Height - Current Progress and Problems" was held at Risø, Denmark, October 1-3, 1997.It was organised by EURASAP, and can be seen as a follow-up on the work of the COST 710 working group on mixing height.

The proceedings of the workshop have been printed as a report. Bibliographic information and the table of contents of the report are available.

Note also that the final report of the COST 710 Working group on Mixing layer depth is available.


Working groups

The chairman of COST 710 was Bernhard Fisher, Greenwich University (UK), and the vice chairman Dr. J. Kretzschmar, VITO (Belgium).
The secretary of COST 710 was Prof. A. Hocevar, DG XII/B/1.

Within COST 710 there were four working groups:

These working groups have investigated various methods for preprocessing of meteorological data. The findings and recommendations of the groups are reported in the final report of COST 710.


Related COST actions


Key persons within COST 710

Note (March 2005): The address information below is not kept updated.

The addresses of the persons mentioned are as follows:


Nejedlik, Pavol
	Note from March 2005: Since 2001 Pavol Nejedlik is the COST Scientific Sectary for Meteorology. 
	During the COST 710 action Jean Labrousse and Andrej Hocevar had this position. 
COST Office
Av. Louise 149 ( 21/30 ) 
B-1050 Brussels 
BELGIUM 
   Tel:+32 2 5333830 
   Fax:+32 2 5333890 
   E-mail:  pnejedlik@cost.esf.org

Erbrink, Hans
NV KEMA
P.O. Box 9035
6800 ET Arnhem
The Netherlands
  Tel: +31 85 562545
  Fax: +31 85 515022
  E-mail:  Erbrink@MTA6.KEMA.nl

Fisher, Bernard
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Greenwich
Chatham Maritime, Medway Campus
Kent ME4 4AW 
U.K.
      Tel: +44 181 331 9911
      Fax: +44 181 331 9805
      E-mail:  B.E.A.Fisher@greenwich.ac.uk

Kretzschmar, Jan
VITO
Boeretang 200
B-2400 Mol
Belgium
  Tel: +44 181 316 9911
  Fax: +32 14 32 11 85
  E-mail:  kretzscj@vito.be

Olesen, Helge Rørdam
National Environmental Research Institute
P.O. Box 358
4000 Roskilde
Denmark
  Tel: +45 46301200
  Fax: +45 46301214
  E-mail:  hro@dmu.dk

Pechinger, Ulrike
Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics
Hohe Warte 38
A-1190 Vienna
Austria
  Tel: +43 1 36 0 26 2402
  Fax: +43 1 36 0 26 2474
E-mail:   pechinger@zamg.ac.at

Seibert, Petra
Institut für Meteorologie und Physik
Universität für Bodenkultur
Türkenschanzstr. 18
A-1180 Wien
Austria
      Tel: +43 1 4705820-20
      Fax: +43 1 4705820-60
E-mail:  seibert@mail.boku.at

Szepesi , D.J.
Levegokörnyezeti Bt.
Katona J. u. 41 V/25
H-1137  Budapest
Hungary
  Tel: +36 1 111 5831
  Fax: +36 1 132 3964
  E-mail:  h12506sze@ella.hu


[CONTENTS]

Related pages
Initiative on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes
COST 715 home page ( Urban Meteorology applied to Air Pollution Problems)


This page is maintained by Helge Rørdam Olesen
It was last modified on
August 2, 2005

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