Description
SMOKE is primarily an emissions processing system designed to create gridded, speciated, hourly emissions for input into a variety of air quality models such as CMAQ, REMSAD, CAMX and UAM. SMOKE supports area, biogenic, mobile (both onroad and nonroad), and point source emissions processing for criteria, particulate, and toxic pollutants. For biogenic emissions modeling, SMOKE uses the Biogenic Emission Inventory System. SMOKE is also integrated with the on-road emissions model MOVES.
Questions this resource can help answer
What are the processed emissions from the EGU sector that can be used as an input to CMAQ?
How do I use this resource?
Use this emissions processor to generate the emissions files used by photochemical air quality models like CMAQ
Resource information
Technical specifications
The defining methodology of SMOKE is the Sparse Matrix Operator. Vector-Matrix Multiplication: Traditional models processed emissions sequentially (calculating everything for point A, then point B). SMOKE instead treats the various processing steps—spatial allocation, temporal distribution, and chemical speciation—as separate matrices. Decoupled Processing: By keeping these steps independent, SMOKE allows a user to change one variable (e.g., applying a new "Control Strategy" to a city) without having to re-run the entire temporal and spatial allocation steps. You simply swap one matrix and perform a final multiplication. Speed and Scalability: This sparse-matrix methodology allows SMOKE to process massive National Emissions Inventories (NEI) in minutes or hours, rather than days, making it the industry standard for large-scale regulatory modeling.
