Browsing by Author "Vesovic, V"

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    Air-pollution modelling in an urban area: Correlating turbulent diffusion coefficients by means of an artificial neural network approach
    (PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2006) Perez Roa, R; Castro, J; Jorquera, H; Perez Correa, JR; Vesovic, V
    The vertical pollutant dispersion is quite sensitive to the eddy diffusivity, K-V. Therefore, good estimations of K-V are essential for improving the predictive performance of Eulerian dispersion models; especially in urban areas where literature based K-V correlations are not always accurate. Here, we present a methodology to obtain a more accurate, but site-specific, Kv correlation. It is based on using artificial neural networks (ANN) to find the best Kv function for a particular urban area by minimizing, in a least-squares sense, the difference between ambient measurements of carbon monoxide and dispersion simulations of this tracer species. The resulting ANN-K-V correlation is a function of three parameters namely, the stability parameter (z/L), the height within the mixing layer (z/h), and the scaled height (zf(C)/u(*))-hence the Monin-Obukhov (L), mixing (h) and Ekman (u(*)/f(C)) lengths are used to predict Kv across the atmospheric boundary layer.
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    Trends in air quality and population exposure in Santiago, Chile, 1989-2001
    (INDERSCIENCE ENTERPRISES LTD, 2004) Jorquera, H; Orrego, G; Castro, J; Vesovic, V
    This study focused on establishing trends in the period 1988-2001 in PM2.5, PM10 and ozone concentrations in Santiago, Chile, and linking those to population exposure. There is strong seasonality in the concentration levels, driven by prevailing meteorological conditions, with the concentration of particulates peaking at the beginning of winter, whereas the ozone concentration is highest during the summer. The levels of PM2.5 and PM10 have substantially decreased since the late 1980s and so has the population exposure. Nevertheless, the majority of the population is still exposed to annual average levels that are above standard values. The situation with ozone exposure is different; no substantial decrease can be observed in the data. If anything certain parts of Santiago, notably the south-east, have shown increased levels of ozone. Overall population exposure indicates that the average person was more at risk of ozone in the year 2000 than they were in 1993.