The public discussions of the environmental effects of air traffic are very often highly emotional. Therefore the initiators of  argumet aimed at developing a set of tools already since the mid 90ies, to clearly describe and evaluate the effects upon the lower atmosphere. Since that time suitable simulation procedures for the discontinuous emissions of the air traffic varying in space and time became available. Such developments were particularly asked for by the permitting authorities for evaluations in legal planning procedures. Mainly in cases of enlargements of runways and/or of flight numbers analysis and prediction studies were carried out. But also odor nuisances lead to inquiries for evaluation of the air quality in low levels. Forecasts can be derived for fleet changes, the introduction of new engine technologies or for spatially/timely changes in the flight paths.

Airline copmpanies may have interest in the results of  AirScope with respect to public relation purposes if a fleet change with a renewal potential is intended, because new engines mostly show not only reduced noise but also reduced specific emissions.

The typical proceeding in a project is to simulate the emissions in a reference year as detailed as possible. Based on traffic forecasts realistics future air loads can be calculated by using grouped factors to account for this future change.

The customers demand can also include induced emissions which can be accounted for:

• vehicle traffic (parking lots, -houses, near by roads)

• airport internal vehicles and supplying traffic

• power and air conditioning devices (APU/GPU/GSE)

For processing such different inquiries and problems  argumet developed AirScope (air quality simulation and calculation of aeroplane operation in airport environments), a simulation system, consisting of several parts (AirScope^tools).

The flow diagram demonstrates the interaction of the various components. The result of the working steps is a visualisation of the ground level concentrations of the concerned substances in a map format. Core element of the process is the emission model which creates a space and time differentiated 3D emission file for the dispersion model.

 argumet uses AirScope to carry out case studies or analyses for the status quo or future scenarios delivering decision support for alternatives or evaluation data for episodes of special conditions.

AirScope makes it also possible to calculate the air quality during certain periods; e.g. during the 6 months of maximum traffic, during the week with the highest frequency of departures or during meteorologically related periods like summer/winter or day/night.

This property is due to the selected Lagrangian model LASAT⁺ which is particularly suitable for the discontinous course of the sources here refered to.

The model takes into account primary substances, limited secondary ones as well as the odorous component. For particles (PM₁₀) the deposition and the mass flow into the soil can be derived when supplementing the meteorological time series by rain fall data.

As an example the following map shows some results for an anonymous airport. The annual average ground level concentrations for a primary substance are displayed. The case study includes all taxi in/out and take off/landing movements (see sketch above) of a reference year.

⁺ LASAT is a registered brand by Dr. L .Janicke

  Mönchengladbach (2002)
  Lübeck-Blankensee (2001)
  Kiel-Holtenau (2001)
  Kassel-Calden (2001)
  Luxemburg (2001 und 1998)
  Münster-Osnabrück (2000 and 1996)
  Berlin-Schönefeld (1998-1999)
  Düsseldorf International (1999 and 1994)
  Köln-Bonn (1996 and 1995)
  Finkenwerder/DASA-Airbus (1996)
  Dortmund-Wickede (1995)

The same dispersion model was used for Frankfurt (1998-2002) and Leipzig (1999). It is in special use for near realtime operation in Düsseldorf and Frankfurt.