2011 Visibility/Haze Modeling

We evaluated the ability of CAMx simulations Base2011a and Base2011a_GCBC to estimate light extinction for individual PM species and for total PM2.5 at sites in the IMPROVE network. We used the IMPROVE equation to calculate light extinction (Bext, Mm^-1) from the model and compared the results to observed light extinctions from the IMPROVE network.

The plots below present the visibility modeling results using standard model performance metrics (scatter plots, time series plots, soccer plots) and with stacked bar plots comparing the PM extinction species at each site on the 20% best and worst visibility days observed at each IMPROVE site in 2011.