Optimal reduction of anthropogenic emissions for air pollution control and the retrieval of emission source from observed pollutants Ӏ. Application of incomplete adjoint operator

Abstract

The ultimate solution to anthropogenic air pollution depends on an adjustment and upgrade of industrial and energy structures. Before this process can be completed, reducing the anthropogenic pollutant emissions is an effective measure. This is a problem belonging to “Natural Cybernetics”, i.e., the problem of air pollution control should be solved together with the weather prediction; however, this is very complicated. Considering that heavy air pollution usually occurs in stable weather conditions and that the feedbacks between air pollutants and meteorological changes are insufficient, we propose a simplified natural cybernetics method. Here, an off-line air pollution evolution equation is first solved with data from a given anthropogenic emission inventory under the predicted weather conditions, and then, a related “incomplete adjoint problem” is solved to obtain the optimal reduction of anthropogenic emissions. Usually, such solution is sufficient for satisfying the air quality and economical/ social requirements. However, a better solution can be obtained by iteration after updating the emission inventory with the reduced anthropogenic emissions. Then, this paper discusses the retrieval of the pollutant emission source with a known spatio-temporal distribution of the pollutant concentrations, and a feasible mathematical method to achieve this is proposed. The retrieval of emission source would also help control air pollution.