You are here:
AMMONIA EMISSIONS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON FINE PARTICULATE MATTER FORMATION IN NORTH CAROLINA
Citation:
HU, J., S. WU, Y. ZHANG, V. ANEJA, G. POULIOT, A. GILLILAND, AND R. W. PINDER. AMMONIA EMISSIONS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON FINE PARTICULATE MATTER FORMATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. Presented at Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the Science, Potomac, MD, June 05 - 08, 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of this task is to thoroughly characterize the performance of the emissions, meteorological and chemical/transport modeling components of the Models-3 system, with an emphasis on the chemical/transport model, CMAQ. Emissions-based models are composed of highly complex scientific hypotheses concerning natural processes that can be evaluated through comparison with observations, but not truly validated. Static and Dynamic Operational, Diagnostic, and ultimately Probablistic evaluation methods are needed to both establish credibility and build confidence within the client and scientific community in the simulations results for policy and scientific applications. The characterization of the performance of Models-3/CMAQ is also a tool for the model developers to identify aspects of the modeling system that require further improvement.
Description:
Ammonia (NH3) is an important atmospheric pollutant that plays a key role in several air pollution problems. The accuracy of NH3 emissions can have a large effect on air quality model (AQM) predictions of aerosol sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium concentrations. Large uncertainties exist in NH3 emission inventories in both total emissions and temporal variations. In this work, sensitivity simulations are conducted to assess the impact of NH3 emissions on the formation of PM2.5 and its composition in August and December 2002 in North Carolina.