Use of Urban 2000 field data to determine whether there are significant differences between the performance measures of several urban dispersion models

Dispersion models are often compared with each other using field data. Hanna and Chang's BOOT model evaluation software allows the differences in statistical performance measures to be assessed to determine whether there are significant differences at some confidence level (usually 95 %). The methodology is demonstrated using four urban dispersion models applied to the Salt Lake City Urban 2000 field data. For demonstration purposes, the comparisons focus on the maximum predicted and observed concentrations on a monitoring arc during each of the 18 field experiments. It is seen that the performance measures for the models are within recommended dispersion model acceptance criteria and that there is not a significant difference in the performance measures at the 95 % confidence level.