A methodology for the identification of weather types to assist air quality modelling from reservoir tracers emissions

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for the determination of specific weather types and their representative days as a tool for the evaluation of atmospheric quality due to emissions of SF6 and PFCs during tracer reservoir technology programs in the North Sea. The methodology utilises observed and model derived information to identify groups of days that have common characteristics. The proposed approach is based on a rotated principal component analysis (r-PCA) module and the subtractive clustering algorithm. Subsequently, the transitional properties of successive days are examined in an attempt to identify weather characteristics of the examined area. The selected days were modelled with the 3-D photochemical model UAM-AERO, under different emissions scenarios. Atmospheric background concentrations of PFC and SF6 are not affected by the emissions of the oilrigs in the scenarios compiled with realistic emissions.