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McNider RT, Pour-Biazar A. Meteorological modeling relevant to mesoscale and regional air quality applications: a review. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (1995) 2020; 70:2-43. [PMID: 31799913 DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2019.1694602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Revised: 11/01/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The highest correlative relations for air pollution levels are often with meteorological variables such as temperature and wind speed. Today, sophisticated gridded high-resolution meteorological models are used to produce meteorological fields that drive chemical transport models for air quality management. Errors in specification of the physical atmosphere such as temperature, clouds and winds can affect the air quality predictions. Additionally, the efficiency and efficacy of emission control strategies can be compromised by errors in the meteorological fields. In this paper, the role of meteorology in air quality behavior, primarily from the viewpoint of regional ozone modeling as carried out in the U.S., is reviewed. Particular attention is given to physics and new techniques for improving meteorological model performance. Uncertainties in model turbulent mixing in the nighttime boundary layer, where large model differences exist, are examined. The role of spatial mesoscale features such as topography and land/water systems in models are discussed. The nocturnal low-level jet, a mesoscale temporal and spatial feature, and its impact on air quality are examined. Traditional air quality concerns have focused on synoptic conditions at the center of high-pressure systems. However, high ozone levels have also been associated with stationary fronts. The ability of models to capture mesoscale structure and yet retain synoptic structure and its timing is challenging. Data assimilation and its ability to improve model performance are examined. Particular attention is given to vertical nudging strategies that can affect formation of the nocturnal low-level jets. Finally, clouds can have a major impact on air quality since insolation impacts temperature, biogenic emissions and photolysis rates and extremes in stability. Traditional techniques, which attempt to insert cloud water where there is not dynamical support, can lead to additional errors. New dynamical approaches for improving model cloud performance are discussed.Implications: This article shows that there has been a considerable improvement in meteorological models used for air quality simulations. In particular, improvement in the tools for incorporating both traditional observations and new satellite data for retrospective studies has been beneficial to air quality community. However, while this trend is continuing, many challenges remain. As an example, due to having many options available in configuring a model simulation, there is a need to evaluate and recommend sets of options that provide important performance measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard T McNider
- Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA
| | - Arastoo Pour-Biazar
- Earth System Science Center, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA
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Appel KW, Napelenok SL, Foley KM, Pye HOT, Hogrefe C, Luecken DJ, Bash JO, Roselle SJ, Pleim JE, Foroutan H, Hutzell WT, Pouliot GA, Sarwar G, Fahey KM, Gantt B, Gilliam RC, Heath NK, Kang D, Mathur R, Schwede DB, Spero TL, Wong DC, Young JO. Description and evaluation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system version 5.1. GEOSCIENTIFIC MODEL DEVELOPMENT 2017; 10:1703-1732. [PMID: 30147852 DOI: 10.5194/gmd-3-205-2010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 136] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is a comprehensive multipollutant air quality modeling system developed and maintained by the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD). Recently, version 5.1 of the CMAQ model (v5.1) was released to the public, incorporating a large number of science updates and extended capabilities over the previous release version of the model (v5.0.2). These updates include the following: improvements in the meteorological calculations in both CMAQ and the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model used to provide meteorological fields to CMAQ, updates to the gas and aerosol chemistry, revisions to the calculations of clouds and photolysis, and improvements to the dry and wet deposition in the model. Sensitivity simulations isolating several of the major updates to the modeling system show that changes to the meteorological calculations result in enhanced afternoon and early evening mixing in the model, periods when the model historically underestimates mixing. This enhanced mixing results in higher ozone (O3) mixing ratios on average due to reduced NO titration, and lower fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations due to greater dilution of primary pollutants (e.g., elemental and organic carbon). Updates to the clouds and photolysis calculations greatly improve consistency between the WRF and CMAQ models and result in generally higher O3 mixing ratios, primarily due to reduced cloudiness and attenuation of photolysis in the model. Updates to the aerosol chemistry result in higher secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentrations in the summer, thereby reducing summertime PM2.5 bias (PM2.5 is typically underestimated by CMAQ in the summer), while updates to the gas chemistry result in slightly higher O3 and PM2.5 on average in January and July. Overall, the seasonal variation in simulated PM2.5 generally improves in CMAQv5.1 (when considering all model updates), as simulated PM2.5 concentrations decrease in the winter (when PM2.5 is generally overestimated by CMAQ) and increase in the summer (when PM2.5 is generally underestimated by CMAQ). Ozone mixing ratios are higher on average with v5.1 vs. v5.0.2, resulting in higher O3 mean bias, as O3 tends to be overestimated by CMAQ throughout most of the year (especially at locations where the observed O3 is low); however, O3 correlation is largely improved with v5.1. Sensitivity simulations for several hypothetical emission reduction scenarios show that v5.1 tends to be slightly more responsive to reductions in NO x (NO + NO2), VOC and SO x (SO2 + SO4) emissions than v5.0.2, representing an improvement as previous studies have shown CMAQ to underestimate the observed reduction in O3 due to large, widespread reductions in observed emissions.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Wyat Appel
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Sergey L Napelenok
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Kristen M Foley
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Havala O T Pye
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Christian Hogrefe
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Deborah J Luecken
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Jesse O Bash
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Shawn J Roselle
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Jonathan E Pleim
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Hosein Foroutan
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - William T Hutzell
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - George A Pouliot
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Golam Sarwar
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Kathleen M Fahey
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Brett Gantt
- Air Quality Analysis Division, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Office of Air and Radiation, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Robert C Gilliam
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Nicholas K Heath
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Daiwen Kang
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Rohit Mathur
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Donna B Schwede
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Tanya L Spero
- Systems Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - David C Wong
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Jeffrey O Young
- Computational Exposure Division, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
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Tang Y, Chai T, Pan L, Lee P, Tong D, Kim HC, Chen W. Using optimal interpolation to assimilate surface measurements and satellite AOD for ozone and PM2.5: A case study for July 2011. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (1995) 2015; 65:1206-16. [PMID: 26091206 DOI: 10.1080/10962247.2015.1062439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED We employed an optimal interpolation (OI) method to assimilate AIRNow ozone/PM2.5 and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) aerosol optical depth (AOD) data into the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to improve the ozone and total aerosol concentration for the CMAQ simulation over the contiguous United States (CONUS). AIRNow data assimilation was applied to the boundary layer, and MODIS AOD data were used to adjust total column aerosol. Four OI cases were designed to examine the effects of uncertainty setting and assimilation time; two of these cases used uncertainties that varied in time and location, or "dynamic uncertainties." More frequent assimilation and higher model uncertainties pushed the modeled results closer to the observation. Our comparison over a 24-hr period showed that ozone and PM2.5 mean biases could be reduced from 2.54 ppbV to 1.06 ppbV and from -7.14 µg/m³ to -0.11 µg/m³, respectively, over CONUS, while their correlations were also improved. Comparison to DISCOVER-AQ 2011 aircraft measurement showed that surface ozone assimilation applied to the CMAQ simulation improves regional low-altitude (below 2 km) ozone simulation. IMPLICATIONS This paper described an application of using optimal interpolation method to improve the model's ozone and PM2.5 estimation using surface measurement and satellite AOD. It highlights the usage of the operational AIRNow data set, which is available in near real time, and the MODIS AOD. With a similar method, we can also use other satellite products, such as the latest VIIRS products, to improve PM2.5 prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youhua Tang
- a NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, College Park , MD , USA
- b Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites , University of Maryland, College Park , MD , USA
| | - Tianfeng Chai
- a NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, College Park , MD , USA
- b Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites , University of Maryland, College Park , MD , USA
| | - Li Pan
- a NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, College Park , MD , USA
- b Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites , University of Maryland, College Park , MD , USA
| | - Pius Lee
- a NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, College Park , MD , USA
| | - Daniel Tong
- a NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, College Park , MD , USA
- b Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites , University of Maryland, College Park , MD , USA
- c Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems , George Mason University , Fairfax , VA , USA
| | - Hyun-Cheol Kim
- a NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, College Park , MD , USA
- b Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites , University of Maryland, College Park , MD , USA
| | - Weiwei Chen
- a NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, College Park , MD , USA
- d Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology , Chinese Academy of Sciences , Changchun , People's Republic of China
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