National Academies Press: OpenBook

Airport Air Quality Management 101 (2018)

Chapter: Section 5 - Tools for Airport Air Quality Analysis

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Suggested Citation:"Section 5 - Tools for Airport Air Quality Analysis." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Airport Air Quality Management 101. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25180.
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Suggested Citation:"Section 5 - Tools for Airport Air Quality Analysis." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Airport Air Quality Management 101. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25180.
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Suggested Citation:"Section 5 - Tools for Airport Air Quality Analysis." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Airport Air Quality Management 101. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25180.
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Page 18

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16 There are a variety of tools and computer models that have been developed specifically for analyzing air quality. Many are specific to airports while others are specific to more general source types such as automobiles. This section describes the tools most readily available to airport air quality analysts. Air quality computer models are needed to determine the specific impacts of airport emis- sions. FAA’s efforts have been to incorporate the best scientific understanding into these models. FAA currently relies on an approved suite of tools that allows for a thorough assessment of the environmental effects of aviation. The primary or central tool is AEDT. AEDT models aircraft performance to estimate fuel consumption, emissions, noise, and air quality consequences. It provides information to users about each of these specific environmental impacts. AEDT is used for planning, environmental compliance, and research analysis. It facilitates environmen- tal review activities required under federal regulations by consolidating the modeling of these environmental impacts in a single tool. The Emissions and Dispersion Modeling System (EDMS) was FAA’s original airport air quality model and was widely used for many years. It is now a legacy tool with all of its capabili- ties incorporated into AEDT. FAA no longer approves its use for regulatory or other required analyses. AEDT is designed to model individual studies ranging in scope from a single flight at an airport to scenarios at the regional, national, and global levels. After quantifying emissions from multiple sources over a common time period, the model shows how weather and other atmospheric conditions cause the emissions to migrate or disperse into the environment. Incorporating dispersion capabilities allows the model to calculate pollutant concentrations at various points downwind on and off the airport. This in turn shows the degree to which passengers, citizens living nearby, and the local community are exposed to aviation emissions. AEDT can be used for a before-and-after comparison of pollutant concentrations for planned airport improvements as a way of demonstrating project impacts. AEDT uses geographic information system (GIS) and relational database components to offer users the ability to explore and present results. AEDT is widely used by airport analysts to evaluate the environ- mental impact of airport emissions and is actively used by the federal government for domestic aviation system planning as well as domestic and international aviation environmental policy analysis. AEDT’s default dispersion capabilities come from AERMOD, a dispersion model devel- oped and maintained by EPA. It models air dispersion based on boundary layer turbulence structure and scaling concepts, includes treatment of both surface and elevated sources, and can represent both simple and complex terrain. It is non-proprietary and is EPA’s preferred S E C T I O N 5 Tools for Airport Air Quality Analysis

Tools for Airport Air Quality Analysis 17 regulatory dispersion model for near field (< 50 km) applications. AERMOD predicts the dis- persion of both primary gas and aerosol emissions and includes limited chemistry, dry and wet deposition, plume buoyancy, and complex terrain. AERMOD has been adapted for use with AEDT for airport emissions modeling although it was not developed for airports per se. However, the combination of the models represents the best capabilities for airport air quality modeling currently available. Other models are often used to compute emissions from particular source types to supple- ment the capabilities of AEDT. EPA’s MOVES is a state-of-the-science emission modeling system, federally approved for computing emissions from cars, trucks, motorcycles, and buses. It estimates exhaust and evaporative emissions as well as brake and tire wear emissions from all types of on-road vehicles for any part of the country, except California. (California requires the use of its own motor vehicle emissions model known as EMFAC. The EMFAC emissions model is used to assess emissions from on-road vehicles including cars, trucks, and buses in California. EPA approved EMFAC for use in state implementation plan [SIP] and transpor­ tation conformity analyses for California.) Emissions modeled in MOVES include criteria air pollutants, GHGs, and air toxics. Using locally developed data on vehicle types, fuel types, vehicle ages, inspection and maintenance programs, and other factors, MOVES computes emissions rates in grams of pollutant per vehicle mile of travel (g/VMT) or grams per vehicle hour of operation (g/hour). These values are used to compute the airport emissions inventory for vehicles. Prior to the development of MOVES, EPA’s approved model for estimating emis- sions from highway vehicles was the MOBILE model (MOBILE6 was the final version in use). It has since been superseded by MOVES. Another important legacy model was the NONROAD emission inventory model, which is a software tool for predicting emissions of hydrocarbons, CO, oxides of nitrogen, PM, and SO2s from small and large nonroad vehicles (e.g., GSE), equipment, and engines, and was used for several years. It has now been incorporated into MOVES. EPA’s National Mobile Inventory Model (NMIM) was a free, desktop computer applica- tion developed by EPA to help develop estimates of current and future emission inventories for on-road motor vehicles and nonroad equipment. NMIM used the most current versions of MOBILE6 and NONROAD to calculate emission inventories, based on multiple input scenarios entered into the system. NMIM still can be used to calculate national, individual state, or county inventories; however, NMIM cannot be used for official modeling of these emissions. NMIM’s capabilities have also been included in the MOVES model. FAA requires AEDT be used for airport air quality evaluations. However, the model does not evaluate emissions from construction activity. In the absence of construction modeling capability in AEDT, a number of EPA models, or models developed by state and local agencies, have been used to evaluate airport construction emissions. Typically, those models require extensive knowledge of construction equipment and building processes so that the hours of use of specific equipment needed in the building process can be used. Until recently, there has been no consistent guidance concerning methods available to estimate construction processes. Thus, the approach used has varied from airport to airport and project to project. To remedy the previous ad hoc approaches, ACRP developed guidance and a supporting software tool to allow users to better understand and quantify airport construction emissions and also to bring consistency to airport construction emissions inventories. ACEIT provides users with default information about the construction process for typical airport projects and calculated emissions from construction projects.

18 Airport Air Quality Management 101 Essential References for Section 5: Tools for Airport Air Quality Analysis • Aviation Emissions, Impacts & Mitigation: A Primer, U.S. FAA Office of Environment & Energy, 2015 • Aviation Emissions and Air Quality Handbook, Version 3, Update 1, FAA Office of Environment & Energy, January 2015 • Airport Air Quality Manual, International Civil Aviation Organization, 2011 • ACRP Report 11: Guidebook on Preparing Airport Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories, Transportation Research Board, 2009 • ACRP Report 102: Guidance for Estimating Airport Construction Emissions, Transportation Research Board, 2014 (includes ACEIT and instructional video) • ACRP Report 149: Improving Ground Support Equipment Operational Data for Airport Emissions Modeling, Transportation Research Board, 2015 • ACRP Report 179: Dispersion Modeling Guidance for Airports Addressing Local Air Quality Health Concerns, Transportation Research Board, 2017

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TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Research Report 185: Airport Air Quality Management 101 introduces airport employees who are not environmental specialists to airport air quality issues. Airport air quality management is highly complex and technical, with many different stakeholders, including the local community and local, state, and federal regulators.

Larger airports have dedicated environmental experts; however, at most airports, environmental management is carried out by employees who are engaged in other aspects of airport operations or provide oversight of external environmental consultants who are executing the work.

This report is accompanied by ACRP WebResource 4: Airport Air Quality Resource Library.

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