 The technical literature on air pollution dispersion is quite extensive and dates back to the 1930s and earlier . One of the early air pollutant plume dispersion equations was derived by Bosanquet and Pearson . Their equation did not assume Gaussian distribution nor did it include the effect of ground reflection of the pollutant plume . Sir Graham Sutton derived an air pollutant plume dispersion equation in 1947 which did include the assumption of Gaussian distribution for the vertical and crosswind dispersion of the plume and also included the effect of ground reflection of the plume . Under the stimulus provided by the advent of stringent environmental control regulations , there was an immense growth in the use of air pollutant plume dispersion calculations between the late 1960s and today . A great many computer programs for calculating the dispersion of air pollutant emissions were developed during that period of time and they were called " air dispersion models " . The basis for most of those models was the Complete Equation For Gaussian Dispersion Modeling Of Continuous , Buoyant Air Pollution Plumes The Gaussian air pollutant dispersion equation requires the input of H which is the pollutant plume 's centerline height above ground level — and H is the sum of Hs ( the actual physical height of the pollutant plume 's emission source point ) plus ΔH ( the plume rise due the plume 's buoyancy ) . 
