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Evaluation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality model version 5.1
Citation:
Appel, W., S. Napelenok, C. Hogrefe, G. Pouliot, B. Eder, K. Foley, AND S. Roselle. Evaluation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality model version 5.1. 14th Annual CMAS Conference, Chapel Hill, NC, October 05 - 07, 2015.
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory’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:
The Community Multiscale Air Quality model is a state-of-the-science air quality model that simulates the emission, transport and fate of numerous air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter. The Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency develops the CMAQ model and releases a new major version of the model every several years (non-major releases can occur more often), with the last major release of the model occurring in 2012. Currently, the latest version of the CMAQ model (v5.0.2) can be downloaded from the Community Modeling and Analysis System website (CMAS; https://www.cmascenter.org/). The next major release of the CMAQ model (v5.1) is scheduled for fall 2015. The AMAD will perform two annual CMAQ model simulations, one with the current publically available version of the model (CMAQv5.0.2) and the with the new version of the model (CMAQv5.1). In additional, several sensitivity runs testing the response of the new model to changes in NOX, SOX, and VOC emission changes will also be performed. The results of each model simulation will then be compared to observations and the performance of the model simulations assessed. This work will summarize the performance of each model simulation and how the performance of the new model compares to the current model.
