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URBAN MORPHOLOGY FOR HOUSTON TO DRIVE MODELS-3/CMAQ AT NEIGHBORHOOD SCALES
Citation:
Ching, J.K S., A. Lacser, S. Dupont, AND S. J. Burian. URBAN MORPHOLOGY FOR HOUSTON TO DRIVE MODELS-3/CMAQ AT NEIGHBORHOOD SCALES. Presented at AMS Symposium on the Urban Environment, Norfolk, VA, May 24-24, 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
The objectives of this task are to continuously develop and improve the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system, which is the science implementation within the Models-3 system framework for air quality simulation. CMAQ is a multiscale and multi-pollutant chemistry-transport model (CTM) that includes the necessary critical science process modules for atmospheric transport, deposition, cloud mixing, emissions, gas- and aqueous-phase chemical transformation processes, and aerosol dynamics and chemistry. It relies on Models-3 I/O API to support machine independent data access and maintains simple interfaces among science processor modules to provide a high-level of modularity.
Description:
Air quality simulation models applied at various horizontal scales require different degrees of treatment in the specifications of the underlying surfaces. As we model neighborhood scales ( 1 km horizontal grid spacing), the representation of urban morphological structures (e.g. building and are distributions, and compositional materials for impervious structures such as roads and parking areas) requires much greater detail. At the neighborhood scale, we expect that the heterogeneities of structures within the urban canopy (i.e., the layer between the surface and the tops of the boundary layer (UBL) wind and thermodynamic structure and a subsequent effect on the pollutant dispersion and flow characteristics and resulting air quality predictions.
The information in this manuscript has been prepared under funding by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.