Introduction

The Energy Research & Technology Applications office (ER&TA) of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Alpine Geophysics, LLC, have teamed up to support the air quality assessment efforts of the Southern Appalachian Mountains Initiative (SAMI). SAMI is a non-profit organization created by the eight southern Appalachian Mountain states (Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia). The primary mission of SAMI is to identify potential solutions to air quality problems in the southern Appalachians. Part of SAMI's integrated air quality assessment will be done using state-of-the-art atmospheric modeling. More information on SAMI can be found at www.saminet.org

TVA and Alpine Geophysics join the primary modeling team of the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), the University of Alabama in Hunstville (UAH) and the University of Virginia (UVA) in providing the technological capability needed by SAMI to quantify links between air pollutant emissions and air quality effects. This capability includes modeling pollutant emissions from both biological and man-made sources, modeling the meteorological conditions associated with various pollution episodes, and modeling the chemical reactions and removal processes involved in transporting, transforming and depositing the pollutant emissions. Visitors are welcome to browse this web site for additional information regarding the SAMI modeling effort.