How will VISTAS and other RPOs benefit from the hourly data from Look Rock and other focus sites?
The Visibility Improvement State and Tribal Association of the Southeast (VISTAS) and other Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs) deal with haze regulations. VISTAS is responsible for evaluating options for meeting regional haze regulations in the southeastern U.S. One goal is to provide field data, acquired by TVA and NPS at Look Rock and other sites, to modelers in order to evaluate whether existing computer models can reproduce daily patterns of aerosol mass and composition. Model testing is important since current models for PM2.5 prediction are still in an early stage of development. Determining natural organic aerosol levels is also important since the ultimate goal of the haze regulations is to return to “natural” conditions by 2064. Thus, quantifying and understanding “background visibility” or “natural conditions” is an important consideration for VISTAS and other RPOs that deal with the haze regulations. Having a year-round, hourly-averaged data base for aerosol constituents
