Tiered training program launched for officials operating regional air impact forecasting system

The National Fine Dust Information Center, an agency under the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, said it will hold a training session on the regional air impact forecasting system, known as L-NEAS, from Wednesday through Friday at Sookmyung Women's University's second campus in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The program targets civil servants from 17 city and provincial governments as well as staff at regional research institutions.

The training is designed to strengthen local governments' ability to use L-NEAS so they can more effectively develop policies tailored to regional conditions, while also improving alignment between national and local fine dust management policies.

Core topics include how to operate the Linux-based system for officials new to L-NEAS, as well as instruction on the meteorological, emissions and air quality modeling components that make up the system.

Training on pyNEAS, a data processing and visualization program that helps users analyze and display modeling results at a glance, will also be offered.

The center has provided ongoing training and technical support since it began distributing L-NEAS to local governments nationwide in January last year.

This year, the center plans to establish systematic operating guidelines, introduce a new tiered training framework tailored to users' skill levels, and expand computing resources so more officials can use the system in a stable environment.

L-NEAS currently has 30 active accounts. Last year, 14 cities and provinces used the system to develop implementation plans under Article 8 of the Special Act on the Reduction and Management of Fine Dust. It was also used in North Gyeongsang Province's "Monday Project," a local initiative aimed at reducing ultrafine dust, reflecting a growing track record of policy application.

As ozone concentrations and the number of ozone advisory days have risen across the country in recent months, some regional research institutions have also begun using L-NEAS to analyze ozone formation characteristics and assess the impact of precursor reduction policies, broadening the system's range of applications.

"To effectively address air quality problems in our communities, accurate diagnosis of causes and analysis of policy effectiveness based on scientific data are essential," said Oh Heun-jin, director of the National Fine Dust Information Center. "Through this training, we will work to strengthen local governments' fine dust analysis capabilities and actively support synergy between national and local air quality management policies."

[National Fine Dust Information Center]
[National Fine Dust Information Center]

thlee@heraldcorp.com