| Abstract: | Environmental processes are usually conceptualized as complex systems whose dynamics are best understood by examining the relationships and interactions of their constituent parts. The cellular automata paradigm, as a bottom‐up modeling approach, has been widely used to study the macroscopic behavior of these complex natural processes. However, the cellular automata models are largely restricted to the two‐dimensional spatial perspective even though the process dynamics they represent evolve in the three spatial dimensions. The objective of this study is to develop a voxel‐based automata approach for modeling the propagation of airborne pollutants in three‐dimensional space over time. The GIS‐based geo‐atom theory was used to manage the data within the automaton. The simulation results indicate the model has the capability to generate effective four‐dimensional (4D) simulations from simple transition rules that describe the processes of particle advection and diffusion. The application of voxel‐based automata and the geo‐atom concepts allows for a detailed 4D analysis and tracking of the changes in the voxel space at every time‐step. The proposed modeling approach provides new means to examine the relationships between pattern and process in 4D. |
