Author(s)

J.G. Kretzschmar

Abstract

How many air pollution impact assessment models do actually exist on this globe is not known. In a rather limited survey the European Topic Centre on Air Quality of the European Environment Agency succeeded in identifying and describing 83 operational models in the European Union. How many of those models are really used for impact assessment studies, how frequently they are used and to what level their results approximate reality, remains unclear. In how far those models do generate comparable results for some typical source- topography-meteorology combinations is also not known. The possible consequences of this lack of knowledge are nevertheless quite serious within the context of the European Union's Council Directives on environmental impact assessments. It's thus quite obvio

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