Emission inventory point source visualization on Google Earth and integrated with HYSPLIT model

Abstract

Emissions inventories are fundamental tools in the management and research of air pollution, climate change, and other relevant areas of knowledge. This work shows how the Mexico national emissions inventory for criteria pollutants was transferred from an Excel file to a structured and standardized one based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), following the Keyhole Markup Language (KML) standard and the United States Environmental Protection Agency consolidated emissions reporting schema using a Python script (provided as supplementary material). We also show how once in the KML format, the results are compatible with Google Earth and any Geographic Information System (GIS) platforms. The KML format may also allow emissions inventory models to interoperate with Chemical Transport Models (CTM) that would be able to read/write XML files for research and public environmental management policy. As an example, we used Google Earth to engage the point source data and the dispersion of a hypothetical release for that point source modeled using the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (HYSPLIT-NOAA), whose outputs also can be displayed on Google Earth. Finally, the KML files outputs from the inventory and HYSPLIT-NOAA model can be visualized on any computer platform and mobile applications that incorporate Google Earth.