Describe the important aspects of wind speed and direction on dispersal of air pollution

What will be an ideal response?


Answer: Strong winds aid in the dispersal of pollutants in two ways. First, they rapidly transport emissions from their source and spread them over a wide horizontal extent. Greater wind speeds also lower the pollution concentration indirectly. Recall from Chapter 3 that air does not flow uniformly in a given direction. Instead, it contains small, swirling motions, called eddies, that mix the air vertically. This forced convection increases with wind speed and, as a result, strong winds favor greater vertical dispersion. Short-term variations in wind direction also affect dispersion. If the wind direction varies only slightly through time, pollution will be concentrated within a relatively narrow area downwind of the source. If wind directions are highly variable, the pollutants will spread out over a wider area.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences