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Particulate matter dynamics

A substantial fraction of the particulate matter released into the atmosphere by industrial or natural processes corresponds to particles whose aerodynamic diameters are greater than 50 mm. It has been shown that, for these particles, the classical description of Gaussian plume diffusion processes, is inadequate to describe the transport and deposition. In this paper we present new results concerning the dispersion of coarse particulate matter. The simulations are done with our own code that uses the Bulirsch Stoer numerical integrator to calculate threedimensional trajectories of particles released into the environment under very general conditions. Turbulent processes are simulated by the Langevin equation and weather conditions are modeled after stable (Monin-Obukhov length L> 0) and unstable conditions (L <0). We present several case studies based on Monte Carlo simulations and discusses the effect of weather on the final deposition of these particles.