Estimating the background air concentration excluding the contribution of an individual source

This paper presents two simple methods for the estimation of the instantaneous background air pollution level in a study area around an emitting point source. The methods allow estimation of concentrations non-inclusive of the contribution of the local emitting source. Hourly records of several monitoring stations located around the point source and results of the diagnostic Lagrangian particle dispersion model LADISMO are used in the calculations. A hypothetical case study is used to demonstrate the application of the two methods. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.