Area sources are among the most complex emission categories encountered in urban and regional air quality assessments due to their spatially distributed nature and the diversity of contributing activities. These sources include community-level emissions, residential fuel combustion, fugitive dust, open biomass burning, stone crushing operations, and other scattered activities that do not originate from a single, well-defined point. Accurate estimation of emission rates from such sources is essential for robust air quality dispersion modelling, which requires precise and defensible input data. Therefore, robust air quality prediction requires a holistic approach for measuring/estimating the input parameters, especially for quantification of pollutant-specific emissions rate using accurate activity data and selection of appropriate emission factors from established databases. 

The session will introduce the application of AERMOD for dispersion modelling of area sources, including preparing model inputs, defining source geometry, incorporating meteorological data, and configuring model options relevant to widespread emissions. Participants will also learn how to run the model, visualise output fields, and interpret results for policy, compliance, and scientific assessments.