Throughout its history, NOAA ARL has served as an interface
between the weather elements of NOAA (and
its predecessors) and the air quality user community. Much
of this activity started as a response to needs associated
with the emerging nuclear industry, but the tools developed
soon evolved into general air quality and dispersion capabilities.
Today, the air quality aspect of ARL research is by far
the dominant theme, but distinctions among the themes remain
somewhat vague. For example, the models developed for emergency
response purposes are among those used for air quality
prediction.
The Air Quality and Dispersion theme is one of the strongest
ties that binds ARL's components together. ARL is not heavily
involved in the pure science of the business. Instead,
ARL focusses on the need to assemble integrated understanding
and models from all available sources, to develop the capability
to predict changes in air quality that will follow changes
in emissions, or that will occur as a result of meteorological
factors.
ARL air quality research extends to studies of atmospheric
deposition essentially the coupling between the atmospheric
pollutant environment and the surface below. ARL now operates
the only research-grade deposition monitoring network in
the nation: AIRMoN (the
Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network).
Air quality & meteorological forecasting systems
Local and urban dispersion modeling
Regional and longer range plume prediction modeling
Air Quality and deposition field programs
Emergency Response
Instrumentation
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Seeking a Better Understanding of Atmospheric Mercury
