Modelling Urban Traffic Air Pollution Dispersion

The prime aim of this research is to support decision making, e.g., air quality impact analysis, human health assessment, through spatially modelling traffic-induced air pollution dispersion in urban areas at street level. Based on the information needed in decision making, a framework for a street level air quality decision support system is established, which is composed of basically three parts: an urban base data model, a dispersion model with a spatial database and a 3D GIS environment for visualisation. The database is used to provide input for executing the dispersion model. The dispersion model called OSPM is adapted to determine the pollution level on the basis of traffic, meteorology and street configuration data.The framework for assessing and visualizing pollution levels was implemented for four pilot-study spots in The Hague, The Netherlands. Those spots are representative for the main configuration of roads across the city. NO2 and PM10 were selected to be modelled pollutants for the reference year of 2006. Parameters considered for the dispersion model were street width and length, building height, wind velocity and direction, ambient air temperature, background pollution, traffic volume, vehicle type and speed.The pollutants concentrations were visualized in planar and non-planar view with buildings represented by cubic volumes. The visualized result has potential to provided valuable information for pollution impact analysis, by including also the vertical dimension of the influenced area and population. Moreover it provides important information to decision makers for air quality assessment and management. * Corresponding author.