Consolidating tools for model evaluation

Byline: Helge Rordam Olesen, Joseph C. Chang An overview is provided of some central tools and data sets that are currently available for evaluation of atmospheric dispersion models. The paper serves as a guide to the Model Validation Kit, which was introduced already in 1993, but has undergone a recent revision. The Model Validation Kit is a package of field data sets and software for model evaluation plus various supplementary materials. Further, the paper outlines main features of a corresponding package that implements the evaluation methodology of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), as specified in its standard guide D6589 on statistical evaluation of dispersion models. The paper gives a review of features and limitations of the two packages.