You are here:
A STUDY OF PROCESS CONTRIBUTION TO PM 2.5 FORMATION DURING THE 2004 ICARTT PERIOD USING THE ETA-CMAQ FORECAST MODEL OVER THE NORTHEASTERN U.S.
Citation:
YU, S., R. MATHUR, K. L. SCHERE, D. KANG, J. E. PLEIM, J. O. YOUNG, AND D. TONG. A STUDY OF PROCESS CONTRIBUTION TO PM 2.5 FORMATION DURING THE 2004 ICARTT PERIOD USING THE ETA-CMAQ FORECAST MODEL OVER THE NORTHEASTERN U.S. Presented at 5th Annual CMAS Models-3 User's Conference, Chapel Hill, NC, October 16 - 18, 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
The objectives of this task include: (1) to continuously evaluate and analyze the forecast results to provide diagnostic information on model performance and inadequacies to guide further evolution and refinements to the CMAQ model, and (2) extending the utility of the daily air quality forecast model data being produced by NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) as part of a NOAA/EPA collaboration in air quality forecasting, to EPA mission-oriented activities. These objectives include developing and maintaining a long-term database of air quality modeling results (ozone and PM2.5), performing periodic analysis and assessments using the data, and making the air quality database available and accessible to States, Regions, RPO's and others to use as input data for regional/local scale air quality modeling for policy/regulatory purposes.
Description:
In this study, first, we evaluate the Eta-CMAQ forecast model performance for the chemical components (SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+) of PM2.5 with the observational data from aircraft flights during the 2004 International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) field experiments. The model spatial performance for PM2.5 chemical constituents (SO42-, NO3-, NH4+, OC and EC) is evaluated with the observational data from the IMPROVE, CASTNet, and STN networks. The spatial and temporal performance of the model for surface PM2.5 mass over the eastern U.S during this period is examined through comparison with observations from the U.S. EPA Air Quality System (AQS) network. Secondly, the contributions of various physical and chemical processes governing the distribution of PM2.5 are investigated through detailed analysis of model process budgets using the integrated process rate analysis (IPR) along back trajectories from selected locations.