scholarly journals Review of comparison of chemical lateral boundary conditions for air quality print directions over the contiguous United States during intrusion events by Tang et al.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anonymous
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Astitha ◽  
Ioannis Kioutsoukis ◽  
Ghezae Araya Fisseha ◽  
Roberto Bianconi ◽  
Johannes Bieser ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study evaluates simulated vertical ozone profiles produced in the framework of the third phase of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII3) against ozonesonde observations in North America for the year 2010. Four research groups from the United States (U.S.) and Europe have provided ozone vertical profiles to conduct this analysis. Because some of the modeling systems differ in their meteorological drivers, wind speed and temperature are also included in the analysis. In addition to the seasonal ozone profile evaluation for 2010, we also analyze chemically inert tracers designed to track the influence of lateral boundary conditions on simulated ozone profiles within the modeling domain. Finally, cases of stratospheric ozone intrusions during May–June 2010 are investigated by analyzing ozonesonde measurements and the corresponding model simulations at Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) experiment sites in the western United States. The evaluation of the seasonal ozone profiles reveals that at a majority of the stations, ozone mixing ratios are under-estimated in the 1–6 km range. The seasonal change noted in the errors follows the one seen in the variance of ozone mixing ratios, with the majority of the models exhibiting less variability than the observations. The analysis of chemically inert tracers highlights the importance of lateral boundary conditions up to 250 hPa for the lower tropospheric ozone mixing ratios (0–2 km). Finally, for the stratospheric intrusions, the models are generally able to reproduce the location and timing of most intrusions but underestimate the magnitude of the maximum mixing ratios in the 2–6 km range and overestimate ozone up to the first km possibly due to marine air influences that are not accurately described by the models. The choice of meteorological driver appears to be a greater predictor of model skill in this altitude range than the choice of air quality model.


2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youhua Tang ◽  
Pius Lee ◽  
Marina Tsidulko ◽  
Ho-Chun Huang ◽  
Jeffery T. McQueen ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 13925-13945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Astitha ◽  
Ioannis Kioutsioukis ◽  
Ghezae Araya Fisseha ◽  
Roberto Bianconi ◽  
Johannes Bieser ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study evaluates simulated vertical ozone profiles produced in the framework of the third phase of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII3) against ozonesonde observations in North America for the year 2010. Four research groups from the United States (US) and Europe have provided modeled ozone vertical profiles to conduct this analysis. Because some of the modeling systems differ in their meteorological drivers, wind speed and temperature are also included in the analysis. In addition to the seasonal ozone profile evaluation for 2010, we also analyze chemically inert tracers designed to track the influence of lateral boundary conditions on simulated ozone profiles within the modeling domain. Finally, cases of stratospheric ozone intrusions during May–June 2010 are investigated by analyzing ozonesonde measurements and the corresponding model simulations at Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) experiment sites in the western United States. The evaluation of the seasonal ozone profiles reveals that, at a majority of the stations, ozone mixing ratios are underestimated in the 1–6 km range. The seasonal change noted in the errors follows the one seen in the variance of ozone mixing ratios, with the majority of the models exhibiting less variability than the observations. The analysis of chemically inert tracers highlights the importance of lateral boundary conditions up to 250 hPa for the lower-tropospheric ozone mixing ratios (0–2 km). Finally, for the stratospheric intrusions, the models are generally able to reproduce the location and timing of most intrusions but underestimate the magnitude of the maximum mixing ratios in the 2–6 km range and overestimate ozone up to the first kilometer possibly due to marine air influences that are not accurately described by the models. The choice of meteorological driver appears to be a greater predictor of model skill in this altitude range than the choice of air quality model.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 567-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hogrefe ◽  
W. Hao ◽  
E. E. Zalewsky ◽  
J.-Y. Ku ◽  
B. Lynn ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study presents the results from two sets of 18-year air quality simulations over the Northeastern US performed with a regional photochemical modeling system. These two simulations utilize different sets of lateral boundary conditions, one corresponding to a time-invariant climatological vertical profile and the other derived from monthly mean concentrations extracted from archived ECHAM5-MOZART global simulations. The objective is to provide illustrative examples of how model performance in several key aspects – trends, intra- and interannual variability of ground-level ozone, and ozone/precursor relationships – can be evaluated against available observations, and to identify key inputs and processes that need to be considered when performing and improving such long-term simulations. To this end, several methods for comparing observed and simulated trends and variability of ground level ozone concentrations, ozone precursors and ozone/precursor relationships are introduced. The application of these methods to the simulation using time-invariant boundary conditions reveals that the observed downward trend in the upper percentiles of summertime ozone concentrations is captured by the model in both directionality and magnitude. However, for lower percentiles there is a marked disagreement between observed and simulated trends. In terms of variability, the simulations using the time-invariant boundary conditions underestimate observed inter-annual variability by 30%–50% depending on the percentiles of the distribution. The use of boundary conditions from the ECHAM5-MOZART simulations improves the representation of interannual variability but has an adverse impact on the simulated ozone trends. Moreover, biases in the global simulations have the potential to significantly affect ozone simulations throughout the modeling domain, both at the surface and aloft. The comparison of both simulations highlights the significant impact lateral boundary conditions can have on a regional air quality model's ability to simulate long-term ozone variability and trends, especially for the lower percentiles of the ozone distribution.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 23045-23090 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hogrefe ◽  
W. Hao ◽  
E. E. Zalewsky ◽  
J.-Y. Ku ◽  
B. Lynn ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study presents the results from two sets of 18-year air quality simulations over the Northeastern US performed with a regional photochemical modeling system. These two simulations utilize different sets of lateral boundary conditions, one corresponding to a time-invariant climatological vertical profile and the other derived from monthly mean concentrations extracted from archived ECHAM5-MOZART global simulations. The objective is to provide illustrative examples of how model performance in several key aspects – trends, intra- and interannual variability of ground-level ozone, and ozone/precursor relationships – can be evaluated against available observations, and to identify key inputs and processes that need to be considered when performing and improving such long-term simulations. To this end, several methods for comparing observed and simulated trends and variability of ground level ozone concentrations, ozone precursors and ozone/precursor relationships are introduced. The application of these methods to the simulation using time-invariant boundary conditions reveals that the observed downward trend in the upper percentiles of summertime ozone concentrations is captured by the model in both directionality and magnitude. However, for lower percentiles there is a marked disagreement between observed and simulated trends. In terms of variability, the simulations using the time-invariant boundary conditions simulations underestimate observed inter-annual variability by 30–50% depending on the percentiles of the distribution. In contrast, the use of boundary conditions from the ECHAM5-MOZART simulations improves the representation of interannual variability. However, biases in the global simulations have the potential to significantly affect ozone simulations throughout the modeling domain, both at the surface and aloft. The comparison of both simulations highlights the significant impact lateral boundary conditions can have on a regional air quality model's ability to simulate long-term ozone variability and trends, especially for the lower percentiles of the ozone distribution.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 873-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. Duffy ◽  
R. W. Arritt ◽  
J. Coquard ◽  
W. Gutowski ◽  
J. Han ◽  
...  

Abstract In this paper, the authors analyze simulations of present and future climates in the western United States performed with four regional climate models (RCMs) nested within two global ocean–atmosphere climate models. The primary goal here is to assess the range of regional climate responses to increased greenhouse gases in available RCM simulations. The four RCMs used different geographical domains, different increased greenhouse gas scenarios for future-climate simulations, and (in some cases) different lateral boundary conditions. For simulations of the present climate, RCM results are compared to observations and to results of the GCM that provided lateral boundary conditions to the RCM. For future-climate (increased greenhouse gas) simulations, RCM results are compared to each other and to results of the driving GCMs. When results are spatially averaged over the western United States, it is found that the results of each RCM closely follow those of the driving GCM in the same region in both present and future climates. This is true even though the study area is in some cases a small fraction of the RCM domain. Precipitation responses predicted by the RCMs in many regions are not statistically significant compared to interannual variability. Where the predicted precipitation responses are statistically significant, they are positive. The models agree that near-surface temperatures will increase, but do not agree on the spatial pattern of this increase. The four RCMs produce very different estimates of water content of snow in the present climate, and of the change in this water content in response to increased greenhouse gases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 2527-2550
Author(s):  
Youhua Tang ◽  
Huisheng Bian ◽  
Zhining Tao ◽  
Luke D. Oman ◽  
Daniel Tong ◽  
...  

Abstract. The National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) operated in the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides the operational forecast guidance for ozone and fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) over the contiguous 48 US states (CONUS) using the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. The existing NAQFC uses climatological chemical lateral boundary conditions (CLBCs), which cannot capture pollutant intrusion events originating outside of the model domain. In this study, we developed a model framework to use dynamic CLBCs from the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, version 5 (GEOS) to drive NAQFC. A mapping of the GEOS chemical species to CMAQ's CB05–AERO6 (Carbon Bond 5; version 6 of the aerosol module) species was developed. The utilization of the GEOS dynamic CLBCs in NAQFC showed the best overall performance in simulating the surface observations during the Saharan dust intrusion and Canadian wildfire events in summer 2015. The simulated PM2.5 was improved from 0.18 to 0.37, and the mean bias was reduced from −6.74 to −2.96 µg m−3 over CONUS. Although the effect of CLBCs on the PM2.5 correlation was mainly near the inflow boundary, its impact on the background concentrations reached further inside the domain. The CLBCs could affect background ozone concentrations through the inflows of ozone itself and its precursors, such as CO. It was further found that the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from satellite retrievals correlated well with the column CO and elemental carbon from GEOS. The satellite-derived AOT CLBCs generally improved the model performance for the wildfire intrusion events during a summer 2018 case study and demonstrated how satellite observations of atmospheric composition could be used as an alternative method to capture the air quality effects of intrusions when the CLBCs of global models, such as GEOS CLBCs, are not available.


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