Larimer County, Colorado, air pollution and outlook
Date
1970-12
Authors
Riehl, Herbert, author
Herkhof, Dirk, author
Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, publisher
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Abstract
Planning for economic and population growth in presently rural areas would be considerably aided from the standpoint of air quality, if an assessment of future air pollution in terms of expected population growth, as a parameter, could be made. This paper attempts to make such an estimate for the foothills area just east of the Colorado Rockies near the northern border of the state. Three problems are taken up in succession, limiting attention to particulate pollution. At first, "pollution potential", defined as the probability of incidence of air pollution episodes of some minimum duration, is calculated from winds obtained during a field experiment. On the average, 10 episodes per winter taking up one quarter of a winter's time may be expected; this is a substantial fraction of total time. Next, the mechanisms of present air pollution accumulation and depletion were studied preliminary to developing daytime and nighttime models for future pollution. It is shown that a nighttime model without turbulence can reconstruct the present pollution map quite faithfully, whereas turbulent upward flux must be added in daytime, not unexpectedly. In the models, it is possible to express future pollution density in terms of wine speed and pollution source strength. Assuming a rate of 50 per cent population increase per decade, estimates of average pollution and so of pollution distribution are prepared until the year 2000.
Description
December, 1970.
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Subject
Air -- Pollution -- Colorado -- Larimer County