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EQUATES: EPA’s Air QUAlity TimE Series Project
Citation:
Foley, K., G. Pouliot, AND J. Bash. EQUATES: EPA’s Air QUAlity TimE Series Project. NADP Online Fall Meeting and Scientific Symposium, NA, October 28 - 30, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
The Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ; https://www.epa.gov/cmaq) estimates atmospheric concentrations and deposition for numerous chemicals, including ozone, PM2.5 and its constituents, and deposition of important nitrogen and sulfur species. CMAQ concentration and deposition values are used to produce the National Atmospheric Deposition Program Total Deposition (TDep) maps and grids. The current TDep maps are based on a time series (2002-2012) of values from CMAQ v5.0.2. Similarly, time series of CMAQ deposition values are provided as a data layer by EPA’s EnviroAtlas and are also used to support many nutrient assessments included those for the Chesapeake Bay, Mississippi River Basin, Tampa Bay, and the Nooksack Fraser Transboundary region. Decadal CMAQ estimates are also used by OAQPS in their model-observation “fused” maps of ozone and PM2.5. These fused surfaces are part of the CDC’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network and have been used in numerous time-series based epidemiological studies by researchers in and outside of EPA to link air quality to a variety of different health effects. The modeling from this project using the most recent version of CMAQ, version 5.3, will be used to update these various data products (e.g. TDep maps, EnviroAtlas deposition layers, OAQPS fused ozone and PM2.5 surfaces, Chesapeake Bay model needed for 2025 TMDL). CMAQ v5.3 contains many important science updates which can impact both concentration and deposition. These updates are expected to improve the estimation of trends in these pollutants. Additionally, the new time series will extend from 2002-2017 which will provide year specific data for the recent years that has not been available previously. For example, currently the TDep maps for years later than 2012 use the 2012 CMAQv5.0.2 data.
Description:
The Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ; https://www.epa.gov/cmaq) estimates atmospheric concentrations and deposition for numerous chemicals, including ozone, PM2.5 and its constituents, and deposition of important nitrogen and sulfur species. CMAQ concentration and deposition values are an important input to the NADP Total Deposition (TDep) maps and grids. The current TDep maps are based on a time series (2002-2012) of model values using CMAQ v5.0.2. The US EPA is developing a set of 2002 through 2017 meteorology and air quality simulations to be used to update the TDep maps and support other EPA tools and data products (e.g. EnviroAtlas, model-observation “fused” maps of ozone and PM2.5). Modeled datasets cover the Conterminous US at a 12km horizontal grid spacing and the Northern Hemisphere at a 108km using WRFv4.1.1 for meteorology and CMAQv5.3.2 for air quality modeling. CMAQv5.3.2 contains many important science updates which can impact both concentration and deposition. New hemispheric and North American emissions inventories were also developed using, to the extent possible, consistent input data and methods across all years to improve model estimated trends. This poster presentation will describe the development of the model simulations and plans for sharing the model output to support a wide variety of human health and ecological applications.
