There are occasions where you want to use a profile from a PMF run as a reference profile. Such occasions include:
- running PMF with a higher number of factors that actually needed but a certain factor only separates at a high number of factors (while others already start splitting up)
- running an in-depth PMF analysis (using the bootstapping and the random a-value technique) on a specific season and the average factor profile should be used for further (e.g. rolling) analysis
- running PMF only over a period where a certain source is dominant (e.g. over night for residential heating or during a firework) to get a cleaner profile
The PMF solution can be easily exported in the analysis (red) panel under general information. Depending on whether the user has selected a single solution or the average (no selection) in the overview, the corresponding solution is exported. The PMF solution can then be re-imported in the import (grey) panel. After going through the treat external (yellow) panel, the profiles can be used as reference profiles.