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Examination of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model Performance over the North American and European Domains
Citation:
APPEL, W., C. Chemel, S. J. ROSELLE, X. V. Francis, H. Rong-Ming, R. S. Sokhi, S. T. RAO, AND S. Galmarini. Examination of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model Performance over the North American and European Domains. ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 53(June):142-155, (2012).
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 CMAQ modeling system has been used to simulate the air quality for North America and Europe for the entire year of 2006 as part of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) and the operational model performance of O3, fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) and PM10 for the two continents assessed. The model underestimates daytime (8am- 8pm LST) O3 mixing ratios by 13% in the winter for North America, primarily due to an underestimation of daytime O3 mixing ratios in the middle and lower troposphere from the lateral boundary conditions. The model overestimates winter daytime O3 mixing ratios in Europe by an average of 8.4%. The model underestimates daytime O3 by 4-5% in the spring for both continents, while in the summer daytime O3is overestimated (NMB = 9.8%) for North America but only slightly underestimated (NMB = -1.6%) for Europe. The model overestimates daytime O3 in the fall for both continents, grossly overestimating daytime O3 by over 30% for Europe. The performance for PM2.5 varies both seasonally and geographically for the two continents. For North American, PM2.5 is overestimated in the winter and fall, with an average NMB greater than -30%, while performance in the summer is relatively good, with an average NMB of -4.6%. For Europe, PM2.5 is underestimated throughout the entire year, with the NMB ranging from -24% in the fall to -55% in the winter. PM10 is underestimated throughout the year for both North America and Europe, with remarkably similar performance for both continents. The domain average NMB for PM10 ranges between -45% and -65% for the two continents, with the largest underestimation occurring in the summer for North American and the winter for Europe.
URLs/Downloads:
Examination of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model Performance over the North American and European DomainsAtmospheric Environment
