Smoke school is the process of being trained and certified to observe the opacity of visible emissions. Using a custom smoke generator, students are shown various opacities of black and white smoke and tested on their observational accuracy. Smoke school is also known as EPA Method 9 Certification, Visible Emissions Training and Opacity Training. Smoke school consists of two parts; lecture and the field certification test.
When you’re talking about visible emissions, opacity is the degree to which light is blocked by the emissions. When you are observing emissions there is always a background behind the smoke plume. This background can be anything, but ideally it should contrast with the emissions you are observing.
Our online lecture program will cover everything you need to know about observing visible emissions and properly documenting your readings. Info about our lecture program can be found here
AeroMet has an extensive schedule of public smoke schools throughout the U.S. Public smoke schools are open to anyone and are held every 6 months to ensure your certification doesn’t expire. Our full schedule can be found here
During the field event, our instructors will demonstrate various levels of opacity using a custom smoke generator. After your eyes have been calibrated, they will run practice tests until everyone is ready to take the certification test. AeroMet will run certification tests until everyone passes.
To maintain your certification, you must pass the field certification test every 6 months. This is why we return to each field event location every 6 months.
