A method for locating influential pollution sources and estimating their contributions

This work develops a source-oriented approach to locate the influential pollution sources and estimate their contributions to pollutant concentrations observed at a receptor site. The domain containing possible influential pollution sources is divided into systematic grid cells, and the influential grid sources are determined based on the locations of the segment endpoints of air trajectories arriving at the receptors. The contribution of each grid source is initially calculated using a formula derived from a Lagrangian box model and including the effects of source emissions, atmospheric dilution, and chemical transformation and deposition. The formula is described in detail in this study. Finally, the average contribution of each grid source is determined based on numerous analyzed events. The proposed approach was used to locate influential pollution sources and determine their contributions to a rural monitoring station during periods of high SO₂ pollution in southern Taiwan. The contributions of sources in various 2 km by 2 km grid cells, five districts, three source categories, 8 industrial areas, and a power plant were evaluated. The results show that the major influential sources were in the northwestern region of south Taiwan, and belonged to three district and point sources. Furthermore, two industrial areas close to the evaluated stations were also very significant, and contributed about 30% of the total pollution.