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WAQS 2014 Modeling Platform

Overview

The WAQS will solicit bids to perform photochemical grid modeling (PGM) for the year 2014. 2014 PGM modeling will use the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) and the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) models. The modeling contractor will develop a modeling protocol to specify configurations for base and future year modeling scenarios. A list of model inputs currently available on the IWDW is provided below. This wiki will be updated as WAQS 2014 modeling efforts progress, and as additional 2014 modeling platform data are added to the IWDW.

Emissions

Oil and Gas Emissions Inventories

Base year (2014) WAQS oil and gas emissions inventories for 14 development basins in the intermountain west. Inventories represent the 2014 annual time period. Inventoried pollutants are NOx, VOC, CO, SO2, and PM10. Greenhouse gas (GHG) pollutant inventories, i.e. CO2, CH4 and N2O, are included for some source sectors in the Permian San Juan and Basin inventories.

2014 Emissions Inventories

The EPA released the final version of the 2014 National Emissions Inventory (2014 NEIv2) in February 2018. The WRAP Regional Haze Planning Work Group’s Emission Inventory & Modeling Protocol Subcommittee has led a detailed process by state to review and adjust the 2014 NEIv2 data for western regional modeling. The IWDW provides access to the emissions inventories, and resources to examine those data. The WAQS will use data as revised in the Subcommittee review process to develop base and future year emissions for PGM modeling in the intermountain west.

Meteorology

WAQS 2014 WRF

The WAQS contracted UNC Chapel Hill to simulate 2014 meteorology using the Weather Research Forecast (WRF Version 3.6.1) Advanced Research WRF (WRF-ARW, or WRF) for the 2014 calendar year with a 36 km continental U.S. (CONUS), 12 km western U.S. (WESTUS), and 4 km western state domain (WSD). More information on WAQS 2014 meteorological modeling is provided in the WAQS 2014 WRF MPE Document.

EPA 2014 WRF

EPA contracted UNC Chappel Hill to simulate 2014 meteorology using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF Version 3.8) at a 12-km horizontal resolution for the continental United States (CONUS). The WRF meteorological fields were processed using the Meteorology Chemistry Interface Process (MCIP) to generate Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ)-ready input files. Additionally, the 2014 WRF meteorological fields were processed using the Mesoscale Model Interface Tool (MMIF) to generate input files for dispersion models. EPA WRF 2014 MPE Document.

Boundary Conditions

GEOS-Chem

GEOS-Chem is a global 3-D chemical transport model (CTM) for atmospheric composition driven by meteorological input from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS). 2014 WAQS AQ modeling will use GEOS-Chem output for estimating boundary conditions. EPA's 2014 GEOS-Chem output are available on the IWDW.

Air Quality Modeling

Information on 2014 WAQS AQ modeling results will be added when it documentation is available.

Modeling Plan

Western Regional Modeling and Analysis Platform Modeling Plan - Phase I: 2014 Platform Development and Shake-out (March 9, 2019)
WRAP_2014_Shake-Out_Plan_Phase-I_v4_2019-03-09.pdf (2Mb)
WRAP_2014_Shake-Out_Plan_Phase-I_v4_2019-03-09.docx (5Mb)

Coordination

The IWDW is assisting modeling contractors track and coordinate tasks for the development of the Western Regional Modeling and Analysis Platform. A link to the coordination spreadsheet on Google Docs is below:

Coordination Sheet