Abstract
Observations of the dispersion of a contaminant plume in theatmospheric boundary layer, obtained using a Lidar, are analysedin a coordinate frame relative to the instantaneous centre of massof the plume. To improve the estimates of relative dispersionstatistics, maximum entropy inversion is used to remove noise fromthe Lidar concentration profiles before carrying out the analysis.A parametric form is proposed for the probability density function(pdf) of concentration, consisting of a mixture of a betadistribution and of a generalised Pareto distribution (GPD). Thispdf allows for the possibility of a unimodal or bimodaldistribution, and is shown to give a satisfactory fit toobservations from a range of positions relative to the source. Thevariation of the fitted parameters with crossplume location isanalysed, and the maximum possible concentration is found todecrease away from the plume centre.
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Munro, R.J., Chatwin, P.C. & Mole, N. A Concentration pdf for the Relative Dispersion of a Contaminant Plume in the Atmosphere. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 106, 411–436 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021209622648
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021209622648