ZeFir, a new integrated tool for wind sector apportionment by Non-parametric Wind Regression
Abstract
Combined with source apportionment approaches, the determination of the geographical origin of atmospheric pollutants represents valuable information for the settlement of mitigation policies. Such methodologies are however often considered and performed as distinct work, although they are intimately related and complementary. Fleming et al. (2012) comprehensively report a large variety of approaches, mainly focusing on air-mass history. The latter study the potential (trans-boundary) advection of pollution, through, for example, Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF, Ashbaugh et al., 1985) or Concentration Field (CF, Stohl, 1996), and are more suited for the investigation of mid/long-range advection rather than local sources. Concentrations may also be combined with wind direction and/or wind speed data to investigate wind sectors that may be responsible for high measured concentrations (e.g. Non-parametric Wind Regression, NWR, Henry et al., 2009). NWR has proven to be an efficient alternative to pollution roses, and to geographically identify, in certain cases, specific emission sources. Calculations are essentially based on a weighted average smoothing of measured data (eq.1)...