The purpose of this Webcast is to help you understand the basics of dispersion meteorology so that you can better respond to an event in which hazardous materials are released into the atmosphere. The National Weather Service (NWS) can have certain responsibilities during an emergency that are described here:

1. You may be asked to provide a site-specific wind observation or estimate.
2. You may be asked for atmospheric transport and dispersion information.

In these kinds of events, you will probably need to call Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), give them information for a model run, help emergency managers interpret the model results, and use your own expertise to evaluate how the local meteorology might affect the model results and whether these conditions are likely to change.

- Call the Senior Duty Meteorologist at NCEP (SDM, 301-763-8298, fax 301-763-8592, e-mail sdm@noaa.gov)
- Provide information such as location, size, and/or height of release
- Get model results from secure Website