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A Comparison of Modeled Pollutant Profiles With MOZAIC Aircraft Measurements
Citation:
Hogrefe, C., Jim Szykman, R. Gilliam, J. Godowitch, S. Roselle, J. Crawford, T. Plessel, M. Silverman, J. Cammas, A. Volz-Thomas, AND S. Rao. A Comparison of Modeled Pollutant Profiles With MOZAIC Aircraft Measurements. Chapter 97, Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXII. Springer, Heidelburg, Germany, 2014:577-580, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s)Atmospheric Modeling 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:
In this study, we use measurements performed under the MOZAIC program to evaluate vertical profiles of meteorological parameters, CO, and ozone that were simulated for the year 2006 with several versions of the WRF/CMAQ modeling system. Model updates, including WRF nudging strategies, boundary conditions, lightning NO emissions, and vertical transport were found to affect the simulated profiles. MOZAIC descent/ascent pairs provide a unique dataset to investigate PBL structure and its representation in regional-scale models during afternoon and early evening hours. Other data sources (e.g. ozonesondes, field studies such as DISCOVER-AQ) can be used to complement MOZAIC measurements in evaluating upper air predictions by regional-scale models over various airsheds.