Does a dispersion model that goes backward provide useful informaiton?

Topics about the HYSPLIT dispersion model.
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Mknapp
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Joined: June 13th, 2022, 12:58 pm
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Does a dispersion model that goes backward provide useful informaiton?

Post by Mknapp »

My work usually requires me to investigate the source of an air mass rather than where an air mass goes after being emitted. I see that HYSPLIT will take a negative value in the Concentration Set-up and give an answer, but is the information it gives actually useful for this purpose (of understanding where an airmass came from)? If not, is there a better way of investigating this?
Thanks!
Tianfeng.Chai
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Joined: September 18th, 2017, 2:20 pm
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Re: Does a dispersion model that goes backward provide useful informaiton?

Post by Tianfeng.Chai »

Yes, the backward dispersion run by setting the integration time to a negative value gives useful information. The results provide the source-receptor sensitivities (which are sometimes called the footprint of the receptors/measurement). The forward model runs can provide such information as well. Inverse modeling to estimate the source terms (release location, time, and emission rate) can be achieved by using either forward model runs or backward model runs. Depending on the applications, one approach could be more efficient than the other.
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