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Extending the Applicability of the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model to Hemispheric Scales: Motivation, Challenges, and Progress
Citation:
MATHUR, R., R. C. GILLIAM, R. BULLOCK, S. J. ROSELLE, J. E. PLEIM, D. C. WONG, F. S. BINKOWSKI, AND D. G. STREETS. Extending the Applicability of the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model to Hemispheric Scales: Motivation, Challenges, and Progress. Chapter 30, Douw G. Steyn & Silvia Trini Gastelli (ed.), NATO/SPS/ITM Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXI. Springer Netherlands, , Netherlands, C Series:175-179, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.
Description:
The adaptation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system to simulate O3, particulate matter, and related precursor distributions over the northern hemisphere is presented. Hemispheric simulations with CMAQ and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are performed for the year 2006 using identical projections and grid configurations. The ability of the model to represent long-range transport of air pollutants is analyzed for selected cases through comparison with available surface, aloft and remotely sensed observations. These demonstrate the feasibility of extending the applicability of the CMAQ modeling system to hemispheric scales to provide a conceptual framework to examine interactions between atmospheric processes occurring at various spatial and temporal scales in a consistent manner