2011a Modeling Platform
Recommendations
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.
| Type | Option | Source | Description | Notes/References | Level of Evaluation (1=low, 10=high) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modeling Software | |||||
| CAMx v6.10 | ENVIRON | Chemistry-transport model configured with CB6r2 photochemistry | www.camx.com | 8 | |
| CMAQ v5.0.2 | US EPA | Chemistry-transport model configured with CB05 photochemistry | www.cmaq-model.org | 8 | |
| WRF v3.5.1 | NOAA | Regional climate model configured for simulating meteorology over the Inter-mountain West | www.wrf-model.org | 8 | |
| SMOKEv3.5.1 | UNC-IE | Emissions processor for preparing emissions inventory and ancillary data for input to chemistry-transport models | www.smoke-model.org | 8 | |
| Emissions Data | |||||
| Emissions | 3SAQS | Update to Emissions 2011a with a correction to onroad mobile NOx speciation | Wiki Evaluation Report | 7 | |
| Emissions 2011a | 3SAQS | 2011 emissions data prepared for CAMx and CMAQ with SMOKE | Wiki Evaluation Report | 7 | |
| Emissions v2020a_11 | 3SAQS | 2020 emissions data prepared for CAMx with SMOKE | Evaluation Report | 6 | |
| Meteorology Data | |||||
| Meteorology v2011a | 3SAQS | 2011 meteorology data estimated with WRF and prepared for CAMx and CMAQ with WRFCAMx and MCIP | This WRF simulation was not configured for wintertime O3 conditions Wiki Evaluation report | 7 | |
| Initial and Boundary Condition Data | |||||
| MOZART ICBCs | NOAA/3SAQS | 2011 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 ICBCs | Harvard/3SAQS | 2011 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 ICBCs | NOAA GFDL | 2011 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 Columns | NASA | Daily ozone column data processed for CAMx using the utility AHOMAPv4 | Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer/Ozone Monitoring Instrument | 2 | |
| Chemistry Parameters | ENVIRON | CAMxv6.10 chemistry parameters files for CB6r2 and aerosol module CF | 9 | ||
| Landuse | ENVIRON | NALC data merged with Leaf Area Index data using ArcGIS macros, Perl, and Fortran | |||
| Total UV columns | ENVIRON | Daily photolysis rates calculated using TUV v4.8 | Average 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 Observations | N/A | N/A | List of aerometric data used to evaluation the 2011 CAMx and CMAQ simulations | 2011 Observational Data | |
| Meteorology MPE report | N/A | 3SAQS | Report detailing the methods and results of determining the quality of the 3SAQS 2011 WRF modeling | 2011 WRF MPE Report | |
| Air Quality MPE report | N/A | 3SAQS | Report detailing the methods and results of determining the quality of the 3SAQS 2011 air quality modeling | 2011 CAMx MPE Report | |
| Evaluation glossary | N/A | 3SAQS | Glossary of Evaluation Products | ||
| Output Data | |||||
| CAMx Base11a_MZBC | 3SAQS | Output data from a 2011 36/12/4-km domain CAMx simulation with MOZART boundary conditions | Wiki | 8 | |
| CAMx Base11a_GCBC | 3SAQS | Output data from a 2011 36/12/4-km domain CAMx simulation with GEOS-Chem boundary conditions | Wiki | 8 | |
| CAMx Base11a_AM3BC | 3SAQS | Output data from a 2011 36/12/4-km domain CAMx simulation with AM3 boundary conditions | Not yet available | ||
| CMAQ Base11a_GCBC | 3SAQS | 4-km domain only CMAQ simulation with BC's derived from CAMx simulation Base11a2 | In progress | 8 | |
| CAMx Base20a_11 | 3SAQS | Output 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 Test | 5 |