Decision support systems suitable to urban air quality
management are not routinely applied in Turkey, although such
systems are in operation in other European middle-sized and larger
cities. However, present studies in Turkey often have a low spatial
resolution and do not take the full advantage of GIS and administrative
databases.
A decision support system was developed for urban air quality
management in the city of Istanbul. Calculation of a comprehensive
emission inventory, air quality modeling, air quality mapping by
GIS and scenario analysis for air pollution abatement were carried
out as the components of this system. Air quality modeling was the
main component of the system and CALPUFF, a Langrangian puff
dispersion model was mainly used for air quality predictions.
CALMET meteorological preprocessors were used to produce
meteorological data for CALPUFF model in the system.
The decision support system developed in this study provides
easy access to the softwares to determine the air quality anywhere
and anytime in the study area. The system has been also developed
as a tool to have an idea about the results of a case causing changes
on air quality within a reasonable run time.