Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
5. Conclusion
Spatial fields can be used for several purposes. Base year fields can be used to
help site new monitors and future year fields can be used to examine potential
future ambient standard violations as well as to calculate health benefits. Cross
validation of interpolated and fused interpolated fields shows that in this appli-
cation, interpolated fields suffer from an over-estimation bias and the fused fields
have an under-estimation bias. In some cases, the fused fields are an improvement
over the non-fused fields. More accurate model estimates of PM2.5 should lead to
more accurate fused fields. Additional applications and performance evaluation of
fused fields should be completed using more recent model outputs that have
adequate PM2.5 performance.
References
Abt Associates, 2009. User's Guide- Modeled Attainment Test Software. http://www.epa.gov/
scram001/modelingapps_mats.htm
U.S. EPA, 2007. Guidance on the Use of Models and Other Analyses for Demonstrating Attainment
of Air Quality Goals for Ozone, PM2.5, and Regional Haze. http://www.epa.gov/scram001/
guidance/guide/final-03-pm-rh-guidance.pdf
6. Questions and Answers
Question:
How does your data fusion approach compare to the approach used in
the BenMAP model?
Answer:
The PM2.5 results shown in this paper use the identical approach found
in BenMAP (VNA based interpolation). However, the MATS software uses a
more sophisticated routine for projecting PM2.5 concentration to future years.
BenMAP projects PM2.5 based on the modeled relative change in total PM2.5
mass. MATS projects PM2.5 based on the modeled relative change in indi-
vidual PM2.5 species components and then adds the components together to
get future year total PM2.5 mass.
