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Recent Advances in Modeling of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Land Surface in the Coupled WRF-CMAQ Model
Citation:
Pleim, Jon, R. Gilliam, W. Appel, AND L. Ran. Recent Advances in Modeling of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Land Surface in the Coupled WRF-CMAQ Model. Chapter 64, Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXIV. Springer International Publishing AG, Cham (ZG), Switzerland, , 391-396, (2016).
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:
Advances in the land surface model (LSM) and planetary boundary layer (PBL) components of the WRF-CMAQ coupled meteorology and air quality modeling system are described. The aim of these modifications was primarily to improve the modeling of ground level concentrations of trace chemical species such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), and ozone (O3) during the evening transition and overnight. However, evaluation of both meteorological and air quality quantities shows that the advanced algorithms added to the PX LSM and the ACM2 PBL schemes improved results both day and night. Modeling experiments at various grid spacings (1, 4, and 12 km) and for different years and seasons all show significant improvements. The revised versions of these components have already been released in WRFv3.7 and will be released in the fall of 2015 in CMAQv5.1.
