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Multimedia Modeling
Quickfinder
Specialists in the Land Research Program in EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) develop modeling systems to assess how contaminants behave in different environmental media such as soil and sediment. For example, a modeling system can simulate the application of fertilizers to agricultural fields. With modifications, the system can also simulate air emissions that are deposited onto fields and their effect on crops and grazing animals.
Multimedia-modeling systems are adaptable computational tools that can be used to evaluate environmental impacts resulting from the release of contaminants. Scientists can customize a multimedia modeling system by adding and/or combining individual models. Using multimedia modeling, scientists can assess options for remedial action at a contaminated site, evaluate waste-minimization opportunities, and analyze the impacts of reusing materials.
Multimedia modeling is key to understanding the current and future implications of contaminant behavior in the environment. This approach offers new ways to improve risk assessment and remediation of pollutants in the environment and supports EPA’s goal of sound science and greater innovation to address environmental problems.
Increasingly, environmental models, software, and related databases are being integrated into multimedia-modeling systems in order to:
- Reduce redundancy
- Facilitate cooperation and coordination among groups
- Provide cost savings for government research groups that share common goals
- Take advantage of expertise across disciplines
- Achieve a higher level of quality assurance and control in modeling technologies
- Standardize sharable technologies and methods that span various aspects of integrated environmental assessment modeling
EPA and other federal agencies with common interests in multimedia modeling are collaborating to share scientific expertise and data. For example, the Inter-Agency Steering Committee on Multimedia Environmental Modeling (ISCMEM) is bringing modelers together to create a common set of tools that can be used to understand and predict the transport and fate of contaminants.
Using multimedia modeling to evaluate large quantities of information can lead to better decisions to protect human health and the environment.