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2011a Modeling Platform

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April 29, 2015

The Western / 3-State Air Quality Study’s 2011a modeling platform and individual components as described below are released for use in regional air quality modeling studies by the Western / 3-State Air Quality Study cooperating agencies for use in their studies, and for external users approved by the cooperators.

The 2011a platform is suitable for regional studies of warm season ozone. Studies of: 1) cold season ozone formation; 2) particulate matter, visibility, and deposition, in general; and 3) decisions about which global model boundary conditions to apply should be undertaken only with knowledge and understanding of the limitations on model performance discussed in the 2011a platform documentation.

A 2011 version B (2011b) platform that will improve specific model performance issues in the 2011a platform is in development. The planned release of the 2011b platform is Fall 2015. All 2011a modeling data and results are available through the Western / 3-State Data Warehouse Data Request page.

Description

The 2011a platform consists of data and software for simulating year 2011 air quality over a modeling domain focused on the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The 3SAQS_2011a Modeling Protocol and Model Performance Evaluation reports provide additional details on this modeling platform.

The table below lists the 2011a air quality modeling platform components, including a qualitative metric of the level of evaluation for each component. The Level of Evaluation metric conveys the amount of evaluation conducted either in general or by the 3SAQS team on the modeling platform component. This metric does not indicate the quality of the component; it serves as an indicator of how much scrutiny has been applied to the component.

The data components cover only the input data to the chemistry-transport models. For information on data further up the processing chain, such as the emissions inventories used as inputs to SMOKE, refer to the Wiki pages for the different components.

Multiple options currently exist for initial/boundary condition data for this platform. The 3SAQS team evaluated the impacts of the boundary conditions on CAMx model performance and concluded that each of the BC data options have merits and weaknesses. We are providing multiple BC options with the 2011a platform to allow users of these data to choose the best dataset for their modeling study.

TypeOptionSourceDescriptionNotes/ReferencesLevel of Evaluation (1=low, 10=high)
Modeling Software
 CAMx v6.10ENVIRONChemistry-transport model configured with CB6r2 photochemistrywww.camx.com8
 CMAQ v5.0.2US EPAChemistry-transport model configured with CB05 photochemistrywww.cmaq-model.org8
 WRF v3.5.1NOAARegional climate model configured for simulating meteorology over the Inter-mountain Westwww.wrf-model.org8
 SMOKEv3.5.1UNC-IEEmissions processor for preparing emissions inventory and ancillary data for input to chemistry-transport modelswww.smoke-model.org8
Emissions Data
 Emissions 2011a_v23SAQSUpdate to Emissions 2011a with a correction to onroad mobile NOx speciationIncorrect NOx speciation profiles were applied to the Base 2011a onroad mobile emissions resulting in NO emissions that were 15-20% too high. Version 2 of these emissions corrects this error by normalizing the NO and HONO emissions for onroad mobile sources by the molecular weight of NO2.
Wiki
Evaluation Report
7
 Emissions 2011a3SAQS2011 emissions data prepared for CAMx and CMAQ with SMOKESee the note above about the onroad mobile NOx speciation issue in this version of the emissions.
Wiki
Evaluation Report
7
 Emissions v2020a_113SAQS2020 emissions data prepared for CAMx with SMOKEEvaluation Report6
Meteorology Data
 Meteorology v2011a3SAQS2011 meteorology data estimated with WRF and prepared for CAMx and CMAQ with WRFCAMx and MCIPThis WRF simulation was not configured for wintertime O3 conditions
Wiki
Evaluation report
7
Initial and Boundary Condition Data
 MOZART ICBCsNOAA/3SAQS2011 Initial/Boundary Conditions from NOAA global GEOS5 MOZART simulations; prepared for CAMx with MZ2CAMx; fine and coarse mode dust capped at 10 ug/m3 and sea salt removed.While the ozone and inorganic PM model performance with the MZ BC's is generally acceptable (see 3SAQS CAMx B11a MPE report), the total PM2.5 concentrations are too high. The 3SAQS modeling team capped the dust and removed sea salt from the MOZART (MZ) boundary conditions to mitigate CAMx total PM2.5 model performance problems. Modeling has not been conducted by the 3SAQS team to evaluate the impacts of the adjusted boundary conditions on CAMx performance.
Wiki
8
 Geos-Chem ICBCsHarvard/3SAQS2011 Initial/Boundary Conditions from Harvard global GEOS-Chem simulations; prepared for CAMx with GEOS2CAMx; fine and coarse mode dust capped at 10 ug/m3 and sea salt removed.While the GEOS-Chem (GC) boundary conditions reduce the dust concentrations in the 3SAQS modeling domains, unreasonably high dust fluxes from the boundary persist; the CAMx performance for ozone and inorganic PM species degrades relative to the MZ boundary conditions. The 3SAQS modeling team capped the dust and removed sea salt from the GEOS-Chem (GC) boundary conditions to mitigate CAMx total PM2.5 model performance problems. Modeling has not been conducted by the 3SAQS team to evaluate the impacts of the adjusted boundary conditions on CAMx performance.
Wiki
8
 AM3 ICBCsNOAA GFDL2011 Initial/Boundary Conditions; hourly data for long-lived species and monthly averages for short-lived species.Modeling is underway by the 3SAQS team to evaluate the impacts of the AM3 boundary conditions on CAMx performance.1
Other Input Data
 Ozone ColumnsNASADaily ozone column data processed for CAMx using the utility AHOMAPv4Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer/Ozone Monitoring Instrument2
 Chemistry ParametersENVIRONCAMxv6.10 chemistry parameters files for CB6r2 and aerosol module CF 9
 LanduseENVIRONNALC data merged with Leaf Area Index data using ArcGIS macros, Perl, and Fortran  
 Total UV columnsENVIRONDaily photolysis rates calculated using TUV v4.8Average values for typical snow cover. These data do not simulate the more reflective white snow that typically occurs during winter high ozone events in southwest Wyoming and the Uinta Basin in Utah.7
Model Performance
 Air Quality ObservationsN/AN/AList of aerometric data used to evaluation the 2011 CAMx and CMAQ simulations2011 Observational Data
 Meteorology MPE reportN/A3SAQSReport detailing the methods and results of determining the quality of the 3SAQS 2011 WRF modeling2011 WRF MPE Report
 Air Quality MPE reportN/A3SAQSReport detailing the methods and results of determining the quality of the 3SAQS 2011 air quality modeling2011 CAMx MPE Report
 Evaluation glossaryN/A3SAQSGlossary of Evaluation Products 
Output Data
 CAMx Base11a_MZBC3SAQSOutput data from a 2011 36/12/4-km domain CAMx simulation with MOZART boundary conditionsWiki8
 CAMx Base11a_GCBC3SAQSOutput data from a 2011 36/12/4-km domain CAMx simulation with GEOS-Chem boundary conditionsWiki8
 CAMx Base11a_AM3BC3SAQSOutput data from a 2011 36/12/4-km domain CAMx simulation with AM3 boundary conditionsNot yet available 
 CMAQ Base11a_GCBC3SAQS4-km domain only CMAQ simulation with BC's derived from CAMx simulation Base11a2In progress8
 CAMx Base20a_113SAQSOutput data from a 2011-based 2020 36/12/4-km domain CAMx simulation with MOZART boundary conditions; note that there will not be a Base2011a projection simulation that uses GEOS-Chem or hybrid boundary conditions data.Attainment Test5