A GIS-based approach to spatial allocation of area source solvent emissions

Current area source emission inventories estimate total emissions for various industrial, commercial, and consumer activities at the county or higher levels. The lack of emission estimates at subcounty levels severely limits the modeling and planning capabilities in urban and regional air quality management. This paper extends current area source emission inventory methodology by developing a geographical information system (GIS) based approach for allocating county-level emission estimates to subcounty units. The new methodology uses GIS to develop and integrate spatial data, to analyze spatial variations in emissions, and to derive input to cell-based air pollution models. This approach incorporates statistical models to predict the spatial distribution of emission source activities based on widely available data. The paper presents an application of the proposed approach to emission inventory of the adhesives and sealants category in the Sacramento modeling region, California. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.