List of Atmospheric Dispersion Models - Models Developed in Continental Europe

Models Developed in Continental Europe

The European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change, which is part of the European Environment Agency (EEA), maintains an online Model Documentation System (MDS) that includes descriptions and other information for almost all of the dispersion models developed by the countries of Europe. The MDS currently (July 2012) contains 142 models, mostly developed in Europe. Of those 142 models, some were subjectively selected for inclusion here. Anyone interested in seeing the complete MDS can access it here.

Some of the European models listed in the MDS are public domain and some are not. Many of them include a pre-processor module for the input of meteorological and other data, and many also include a post-processor module for graphing the output data and/or plotting the area impacted by the air pollutants on maps.

The country of origin is included for each of the European models listed below.

• AEROPOL (Estonia) - The AERO-POLlution model developed at the Tartu Observatory in Estonia is a Gaussian plume model for simulating the dispersion of continuous, buoyant plumes from stationary point, line and area sources over flat terrain on a local to regional scale. It includes plume depletion by wet and/or dry deposition as well as the effects of buildings in the plume path.
• ATSTEP (Germany) - Gaussian Puff Dispersion and Deposition model used in the decision support system RODOS (Real-time On-line Decision Support) for nuclear emergency management. RODOS is operational in Germany by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and test-operational in many other European countries. More information on RODOS is available here and on the ATSTEP model here.
• AUSTAL2000 (Germany) - The official air dispersion model to be used in the permitting of industrial sources by the German Federal Environmental Agency. The model accommodates point, line, area and volume sources of buoyant plumes. It has capabilities for building effects, complex terrain, plume depletion by wet or dry deposition, and first order chemical reactions. It is based on the LASAT model developed by Ingenieurbüro Janicke Gesellschaft für Umweltphysik.
• BUO-FMI (Finland) - This model was developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) specifically for estimating the atmospheric dispersion of neutral or buoyant plume gases and particles emitted from fires in warehouses and chemical stores. It is a hybrid of a local scale Gaussian plume model and another model type. Plume depletion by dry deposition is included but wet deposition is not included.
• CAR-FMI (Finland) - This model was developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) for evaluating atmospheric dispersion and chemical transformation of vehicular emissions of inert (CO, NOx) and reactive (NO, NO₂, O₃) gases from a road network of line sources on a local scale. It is a Gaussian line source model which includes an analytical solution for the chemical cycle NO-O₃-NO₂.
• CAR-International (The Netherlands) - Calculation of Air pollution from Road traffic(CAR-International) is an atmospheric dispersion model developed by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. It is used for simulating the dispersion of vehicular emissions from roadway traffic.
• DIPCOT (Greece) - DIsPersion over COmplex Terrain (DIPCOT) is a model developed in the National Centre of Scientific Research "DEMOKRITOS" of Greece that simulates dispersion of buoyant plumes from multiple point sources over complex terrain on a local to regional scale. It does not include wet deposition or chemical reactions.
• DISPERSION21 (Sweden) - This model was developed by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) for evaluating air pollutant emissions from existing or planned industrial or urban sources on a local scale. It is a Gaussian plume model for point, area, line and vehicular traffic sources. It includes plume penetration of inversions aloft, building effects, NOx chemistry and it can handle street canyons. It does not include wet or dry deposition, complex atmospheric chemistry, or the effects of complex terrain.
• DISPLAY-2 (Greece) - A vapour cloud dispersion model for neutral or denser-than-air pollution plumes over irregular, obstructed terrain on a local scale. It accommodates jet releases as well as two-phase (i.e., liquid-vapor mixtures) releases. This model was also developed at the National Centre of Scientific Research "DEMOKRITOS" of Greece.
• EK100W (Poland) - A Gaussian plume model used for air quality impact assessments of pollutants from industrial point sources as well as for urban air quality studies on a local scale. It includes wet and dry deposition. The effects of complex terrain are not included.
• FARM (Italy) - The Flexible Air quality Regional Model (FARM) is an atmospheric dispersion model designed for the analysis of episodes and scenarios, evaluation of the effects of regional emission control policies and pollution forecasts in complex situations. It accommodates point and area sources, and includes photochemistry and plume depletion by wet and dry deposition.
• FLEXPART (Austria/Germany/Norway) - An efficient and flexible Lagrangian particle transport and diffusion model for regional to global applications, with capability for forward and backward mode. Freely available. Developed at BOKU Vienna, TU München, and NILU.
• GRAL (Austria) - The GRAz Lagrangian model was developed at the Graz University of Technology and it is a dispersion model for buoyant plumes from multiple point, line and tunnel portal sources. It handles flat or complex terrain but it has no chemistry or deposition capabilities.
• HAVAR (Czech Republic) - A Gaussian plume model integrated with a puff model and a hybrid plume-puff model, developed by the Czech Academy of Sciences, is intended for routine and/or accidental releases of radionuclides from single point sources within nuclear power plants. The model includes radioactive plume depletion by dry and wet deposition as well as by radioactive decay. For the decay of some nuclides, the creation of daughter products that then grow into the plume is taken into account.
• IFDM (Belgium) - The Immission Frequency Distribution Model, developed at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research(VITO), is a Gaussian dispersion model used for point and area sources dispersing over flat terrain on a local scale. The model includes plume depletion by dry or wet deposition and has been updated to handle building effects and the O₃-NOx-chemistry. It is not designed for complex terrain or other chemically reactive pollutants.
• INPUFF-U (Romania) - This model was developed by the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology in Bucharest, Romania. It is a Gaussian puff model for calculating the dispersion of radionuclides from passive emission plumes on a local to urban scale. It can simulate accidental or continuous releases from stationary or mobile point sources. It includes wet and dry deposition. Building effects, buoyancy effects, chemical reactions and effects of complex terrain are not included.
• LOTOS-EUROS (The Netherlands) - The LOng Term Ozone Simulation - EURopean Operational Smog (LOTOS-EUROS) model was developed by the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in The Netherlands. It is designed for modelling the dispersion of pollutants (such as: photo-oxidants, aerosols, heavy metals) over all of Europe. It includes simple reaction chemistry as well as wet and dry deposition.
• MEMO (Greece) - A Eulerian non-hydrostatic prognostic mesoscale model for wind flow simulation. It was developed by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in collaboration with the Universität Karlsruhe. This model is designed for describing atmospheric transport phenomena in the local-to-regional scale, often referred to as mesoscale air pollution models.
• MERCURE (France) - An atmospheric dispersion modeling CFD code developed by Electricite de France (EDF) and distributed by ARIA Technologies, a French company. The code is a version of the CFD software ESTET, developed by EDF's Laboratoire National d'Hydraulique.
• MODIM (Slovak Republic) - A model for calculating the dispersion of continuous, neutral or buoyant plumes on a local to regional scale. It integrates a Gaussian plume model for single or multiple point and area sources with a numerical model for line sources, street networks and street canyons. It is intended for regulatory and planning purposes.
• MSS (France) - Micro-Swift-Spray is a Lagrangian particle model used to predict the transport and dispersion of contaminants in urban environments. Swift predicts a mass-consistent wind field taking into account terrain, the no-penetration condition of building boundaries, Rockle zones for recirculation for edge and rooftop separation, along with background and locally generated turbulence. Spray handles passive and dense gases, particulates, models buoyancy effects of plumes, treats wet and dry deposition, and calculates pressure fields for integration with building models. MSS is developed by ARIA in France and is integrated into HPAC by SAIC and has been validated in conjunction with JEM release 1.1. MSS is coupled with both SCIPUFF and UDM as part of HPAC.
• MUSE (Greece) - A photochemical atmospheric dispersion model developed by Professor Nicolas Moussiopoulos at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. It is intended for the study of photochemical smog formation in urban areas and assessment of control strategies on a local to regional scale. It can simulate dry deposition and transformation of pollutants can be treated using any suitable chemical reaction mechanism.
• OML (Denmark) - A model for dispersion calculations of continuous neutral or buoyant plumes from single or multiple, stationary point and area sources. It has some simple methods for handling photochemistry (primarily for NO₂) and for handling complex terrain. The model was developed by the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark, which is a part of the Aarhus University. For further reference see as well: OML home page
• ONM9440 (Austria) - A Gaussian dispersion model for continuous, buoyant plumes from stationary sources for use in flat terrain areas. It includes plume depletion by dry deposition of solid particulates.
• PROKAS-V (Germany) - A Gaussian dispersion model for evaluating the atmospheric dispersion of air pollutants emitted from vehicular traffic on a road network of line sources on a local scale.
• PLUME (Bulgaria) - A conventional Gaussian plume model in more regulatory applications than any other models. The basis of the model is a single simple formula which assumes constant wind speed and a reflection from the ground surface. The horizontal and vertical dispersion parameters as function of downwind distance and stability and the plume rise equations are taken used. Meteorology input: a) wind speed and direction, ambient temperature, stability class or b) wind rose or c) hourly sequential file Y, M, D, H, WS, WD, T, Cld (cloud amount in tenths. The model is developed for routine applications for air quality assessment, regulatory purposes and policy support.
• OSPM (Denmark) - The Operational Street Pollution Model (OSPM) is a practical street pollution model, developed by the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark, Department of Atmospheric Environment. For almost 20 years, OSPM has been routinely used in many countries for studying traffic pollution, performing analyses of field campaign measurements, studying efficiency of pollution abatement strategies, carrying out exposure assessments and as reference in comparisons to other models. OSPM is generally considered as state-of-the-art in applied street pollution modelling. For further reference see as well: OSPM home page
• POLGRAPH (Portugal) - This model was developed at the University of Aveiro, Portugal by Professor Carlos Borrego. It was designed for evaluating the impact of industrial pollutant releases and for air quality assessments. It is a Gaussian plume dispersion model for continuous, elevated point sources to be used on a local scale over flat or gently rolling terrain.
• RADM (France) - The Random-walk Advection and Dispersion Model (RADM) was developed by ACRI-ST, an independent research and development organization in France. It can model gas plumes and particles (including pollutants with exponential decay or formation rates) from single or multiple stationary, mobile or area sources. Chemical reaction, radioactive decay, deposition, complex terrain, and inversion conditions are accommodated.
• RIMPUFF (Denmark) - A local and regional scale real-time puff diffusion model developed by Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark. Risø DTU. RIMPUFF is an operational emergency response model in use for assisting emergency management organisations dealing with chemical, nuclear, biological and radiological (CBRN) releases to the atmosphere. RIMPUFF is in operation in several European national emergency centres for preparedness and prediction of nuclear accidental releases (RODOS, EURANOS, ARGOS), chemical gas releases (ARGOS), and serves also as a decision support tool during active combatment of airborne transmission of various biological infections, including e.g. Foot-and Mouth Disease outbreaks.DEFRA Foot and Mouth Disease.
• SAFE AIR II (Italy) - The Simulation of Air pollution From Emissions II (SAFE AIR II) was developed at the Department of Physics, University of Genoa, Italy to simulate the dispersion of air pollutants above complex terrain at local and regional scales. It can handle point, line, area and volume sources and continuous plumes as well as puffs. It includes first-order chemical reactions and plume depletion by wet and dry deposition, but it does not include any photochemistry.
• SEVEX (Belgium) - The SEVeso EXpert model simulates the accidental release of toxic and/or flammable material over flat or complex terrain from multiple pipe and vessel sources or from evaporation of volatile liquid spill pools. The accidental releases may be continuous, transient or catastrophic. The integrated model can handle denser-than-air gases as well as neutral gases (i.e., neither denser than or lighter than air). It does not include handling of multi-component material, nor does it provide for chemical transformation of the releases. The model's name is derived from the major disaster caused by the accidental release of highly toxic gases that occurred in Seveso, Italy in 1976.
• STACKS (The Netherlands) - A Gaussian plume dispersion model for point and area buoyant plumes to be used over flat terrain on a local scale. It includes building effects, NO₂ chemistry and plume depletion by deposition. It is used for environmental impact studies and evaluation of emission reduction strategies.
• STOER.LAG (Germany) - A dispersion model designed to evaluate accidental releases of hazardous and/or flammable materials from point or area sources in industrial plants. It can handle neutral and denser-than-air gases or aerosols from ground-level or elevated sources. The model accommodates building and terrain effects, evaporation of volatile liquid spill pools, and combustion or explosion of flammable gas-air mixtures (including the impact of heat and pressure waves caused by a fire or explosion).
• SYMOS'97 (Czech Republic) - A model, developed by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, for dispersion calculations of continuous neutral or buoyant plumes from single or multiple point, area or line sources. It can handle complex terrain and it can also be used to simulate the dispersion of cooling tower plumes.
• TCAM is a multiphase three-dimensional eulerian grid model designed by ESMA group of University of Brescia, for modelling dispersion of pollutants (in particular photochemical and aerosol) at mesoscale.
• UDM-FMI (Finland) - This model was developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) as an integrated Gaussian urban scale model intended for regulatory pollution control. It handles multiple point, line, area and volume sources and it includes chemical transformation (for NO2), wet and dry deposition (for SO2), and downwash phenomena (but no building effects).