Plume behaviour refers to the dispersal pattern of gaseous pollutants in atmosphere depending upon wind conditions, atmospheric stability and vertical temperature profile.

What is plume in air pollution?

A plume is a column of liquid, gas, or dust, moving through another. In general we use the term plume to describe things like smoke coming out of a chimney or steam from a smokestack at a power plant. A plume could also be rain cloud, a snow cloud, and even your breath!

How many types of plume behaviour are there?

There are five classic plume types that relate to stability. The first is the fanning plume. You can see that the actual lapse rate (the dark red line) is very stable compared to the dashed white line, which is the adiabatic lapse rate. A fanning plume tends to be very narrow in the vertical.