Met Data

CALPUFF View - Creating Projects from MMIF Output

Following up on Lakes’ November webinar, you can purchase global AERMET-ready met data online from the WRF or MM5 meteorological models. Lakes utilizes the Mesoscale Model Interface Program (MMIF) to format prognostic meteorological model output for use in air quality models.

AERMOD View - Reading AERMOD SFC File Headers

AERMET, the meteorological preprocessor used to generate meteorological data for use in the AERMOD air dispersion model, creates two unique files:

• A surface file (*.SFC) containing surface-level variables and turbulence scaling parameters calculated by AERMET, and
• A profile file (*.PFL) containing multi-level variables for boundary layer profile analysis in AERMOD.

AERMOD View - Common Upper Air Data Errors in AERMET

Several air dispersion models require measurements of vertical meteorological parameters or “upper air data”. This data is recorded from weather balloons launched simultaneously around the globe at 00Z and 12Z each day. Data is made available from several resources including the NOAA/ESRL Radiosonde Database. Users can look up and download data for worldwide locations as far back as the mid-1940s. The Forecast Systems Laboratory format, or FSL format, is used by several meteorological data preprocessors including READ62, the upper air data pre-processor for the CALPUFF modeling system, and AERMET.