Regional air quality models and the regulation of atmospheric emissions

This paper investigates regional air quality model performance and the regulation of atmospheric emissions. Although evaluation of regional models cannot be reduced to a set of rules, the paper shows ways of developing better understanding of model performance. It draws on studies in recent years by the Environment Agency to quantify the uncertainty in predictions of regional air quality models. It is argued that a decision by a regulator on how to use a regional air quality model should be based on both operational evaluation (involving comparison with observation) and diagnostic