Air Quality Prediction

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2018) | Viewed by 28324

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Meteorological Research Branch, RPN, Environment Canada, Dorval, QC, Canada
Interests: numerical weather prediction; advection-reaction-diffusion equation; integration of stiff systems of differential equations; transport of atmospheric constituents; air quality prediction; inverse tracer transport problems; topological fluid dynamics; coupling between geophysical processes and rotation; history of meteorology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The emergence of the Earth Modeling System paradigm in the early 2000s, epitomized by the Integrated Forecast Systems, has led to the coupling of atmospheric dynamics with the equations describing transport of reactive tracers. The modern air quality prediction systems are, in fact, weather forecast models with a significantly expanded suite of the parameterizations including chemistry, surface exchange process and convective mixing. This advancement creates an unprecedented potential to increase the realism of computer simulations, superior to those from the previous generation of the chemical transport models. At the same time, the new paradigm of air quality prediction requires better chemical kinetics schemes and more realistic models of the aerosol dynamics. Furthermore, coupling of the processes with vastly different space and time scales within a single model demands the accurate mass conserving, non-oscillatory advection scheme as well as the new time stepping algorithms.

Contributions are being sought to document the current status of modern air quality prediction. The most relevant papers are those discussing the following subjects:

  • Strategies of coupling between the atmospheric chemistry and the numerical weather prediction models including description of the actual air quality prediction systems.
  • Are the off-line models still relevant in the air quality prediction?
  • The interaction between air quality prediction and traditional parameterizations of the numerical weather prediction models.
  • The discussion of chemical kinetic schemes for use with air quality prediction models.
  • New methods for modeling of the aerosol dynamics.
  • Numerical schemes for solving the reactive transport with stiff chemical interactions.
  • Data assimilation algorithms for the air quality prediction.
  • Studies illustrating the interaction between weather and aerosol processes.
  • Studies of small scale flows and their role in the air quality prediction.
  • The evaluation of predictability limits for air quality forecast.

Dr. Janusz Pudykiewicz
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Earth Prediction System
  • Integrated Forecast System
  • Numerical Weather Prediction
  • Atmospheric Chemistry Kinetics Schemes
  • Chemical Transport Models
  • Atmospheric Boundary Layer
  • Emission Processing Systems
  • Biogenic Emission
  • Chemical Data Assimilation
  • Deposition
  • Numerical Methods for Advection Equation
  • Numerical methods for Stiff Differential Equations
  • Coagulation Equation
  • Atmospheric Dust
  • Dry Phase Chemistry
  • Wet Phase Chemistry
  • Convective Mixing

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

39 pages, 5203 KiB  
Article
Coupled Stratospheric Chemistry–Meteorology Data Assimilation. Part I: Physical Background and Coupled Modeling Aspects
by Richard Ménard, Simon Chabrillat, Alain Robichaud, Jean de Grandpré, Martin Charron, Yves Rochon, Rebecca Batchelor, Alexander Kallaur, Mateusz Reszka and Jacek W. Kaminski
Atmosphere 2020, 11(2), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11020150 - 30 Jan 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4133
Abstract
A coupled stratospheric chemistry–meteorology model was developed by combining the Canadian operational weather prediction model Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) with a comprehensive stratospheric photochemistry model from the Belgian Assimilation System for Chemical ObsErvations (BASCOE). The coupled model was called GEM-BACH for GEM-Belgian Atmospheric [...] Read more.
A coupled stratospheric chemistry–meteorology model was developed by combining the Canadian operational weather prediction model Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) with a comprehensive stratospheric photochemistry model from the Belgian Assimilation System for Chemical ObsErvations (BASCOE). The coupled model was called GEM-BACH for GEM-Belgian Atmospheric CHemistry. The coupling was made across a chemical interface that preserves time-splitting while being modular, allowing GEM to run with or without chemistry. An evaluation of the coupling was performed by comparing the coupled model, refreshed by meteorological analyses every 6 h, against the standard offline chemical transport model (CTM) approach. Results show that the dynamical meteorological consistency between meteorological analysis times far outweighs the error created by the jump resulting from the meteorological analysis increments at regular time intervals, irrespective of whether a 3D-Var or 4D-Var meteorological analysis is used. Arguments in favor of using the same horizontal resolution for chemistry, meteorology, and meteorological and chemical analysis increments are also presented. GEM-BACH forecasts refreshed by meteorological analyses every 6 h were compared against independent measurements of temperature, long-lived species, ozone and water vapor. The comparison showed a relatively good agreement throughout the stratosphere except for an upper-level warm temperature bias and an ozone deficit of nearly 15%. In particular, the coupled model simulation during an ozone hole event gives better ozone concentrations than a 4D-Var chemical assimilation at a lower resolution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality Prediction)
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45 pages, 10464 KiB  
Article
Coupled Stratospheric Chemistry–Meteorology Data Assimilation. Part II: Weak and Strong Coupling
by Richard Ménard, Pierre Gauthier, Yves Rochon, Alain Robichaud, Jean de Grandpré, Yan Yang, Cécilien Charrette and Simon Chabrillat
Atmosphere 2019, 10(12), 798; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10120798 - 9 Dec 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3724
Abstract
We examine data assimilation coupling between meteorology and chemistry in the stratosphere from both weak and strong coupling strategies. The study was performed with the Canadian operational weather prediction Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model coupled online with the photochemical stratospheric chemistry model developed [...] Read more.
We examine data assimilation coupling between meteorology and chemistry in the stratosphere from both weak and strong coupling strategies. The study was performed with the Canadian operational weather prediction Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model coupled online with the photochemical stratospheric chemistry model developed at the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, described in Part I. Here, the Canadian Meteorological Centre’s operational variational assimilation system was extended to include errors of chemical variables and cross-covariances between meteorological and chemical variables in a 3D-Var configuration, and we added the adjoint of tracer advection in the 4D-Var configuration. Our results show that the assimilation of limb sounding observations from the MIPAS instrument on board Envisat can be used to anchor the AMSU-A radiance bias correction scheme. Additionally, the added value of limb sounding temperature observations on meteorology and transport is shown to be significant. Weak coupling data assimilation with ozone–radiation interaction is shown to give comparable results on meteorology whether a simplified linearized or comprehensive ozone chemistry scheme is used. Strong coupling data assimilation, using static error cross-covariances between ozone and temperature in a 3D-Var context, produced inconclusive results with the approximations we used. We have also conducted the assimilation of long-lived species observations using 4D-Var to infer winds. Our results showed the added value of assimilating several long-lived species, and an improvement in the zonal wind in the Tropics within the troposphere and lower stratosphere. 4D-Var assimilation also induced a correction of zonal wind in the surf zone and a temperature bias in the lower tropical stratosphere. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality Prediction)
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24 pages, 5722 KiB  
Article
Urban Trees and Their Impact on Local Ozone Concentration—A Microclimate Modeling Study
by Helge Simon, Joachim Fallmann, Tim Kropp, Holger Tost and Michael Bruse
Atmosphere 2019, 10(3), 154; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10030154 - 22 Mar 2019
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6927
Abstract
Climate sensitive urban planning involves the implementation of green infrastructure as one measure to mitigate excessive heat in urban areas. Depending on thermal conditions, certain trees tend to emit more biogenic volatile organic compounds, which act as precursors for ozone formation, thus hampering [...] Read more.
Climate sensitive urban planning involves the implementation of green infrastructure as one measure to mitigate excessive heat in urban areas. Depending on thermal conditions, certain trees tend to emit more biogenic volatile organic compounds, which act as precursors for ozone formation, thus hampering air quality. Combining a theoretical approach from a box model analysis and microscale modeling from the microclimate model ENVI-met, we analyze this relationship for a selected region in Germany and provide the link to air quality prediction and climate sensitive urban planning. A box model study was conducted, indicating higher ozone levels with higher isoprene concentration, especially in NO-saturated atmospheres. ENVI-met sensitivity studies showed that different urban layouts strongly determine local isoprene emissions of vegetation, with leaf temperature, rather than photosynthetic active radiation, being the dominant factor. The impact of isoprene emission on the ozone in complex urban environments was simulated for an urban area for a hot summer day with and without isoprene. A large isoprene-induced relative ozone increase was found over the whole model area. On selected hot spots we find a clear relationship between urban layout, proximity to NOx emitters, tree-species-dependent isoprene emission capacity, and increases in ozone concentration, rising up to 500% locally. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality Prediction)
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16 pages, 1982 KiB  
Article
Air Quality in Ningbo and Transport Trajectory Characteristics of Primary Pollutants in Autumn and Winter
by Xiaoping Tu, Yun Lu, Risheng Yao and Jiamin Zhu
Atmosphere 2019, 10(3), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10030120 - 5 Mar 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3446
Abstract
By using meteorology and pollution observation data from Zhejiang province, and data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s Global Data Assimilation System from 1 June 2013, to 31 May 2016, we analyzed air quality characteristics in Ningbo and applied the HYSPLIT model [...] Read more.
By using meteorology and pollution observation data from Zhejiang province, and data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s Global Data Assimilation System from 1 June 2013, to 31 May 2016, we analyzed air quality characteristics in Ningbo and applied the HYSPLIT model to do backward trajectory clustering statistics for pollution cases of moderate, heavy and severe (henceforth referred to as moderate-and-above) levels. The results indicated that the percentage of moderate-and-above pollution was approximately 6%, which mostly occurred from November to February, with the primary pollutant being particulate matter with a diameter of ≤2.5 μm; Moderate-and-above pollution was mainly caused by pollutants from three types of trajectories (type mx, type 1, and type 2), with type 2 differing significantly from types 1 and mx. Type 2 occurred in stable boundary layers, whereas types mx and 1 occurred in unstable and conditionally unstable layers respectively. These three trajectory types were all related to cold air, but type 2 was weaker than the other two. Analysis of typical cases of various pollution types revealed that a heavy pollution outbreak was due to continuous superposition of pollutants. The input particles most likely originated from the northwest. The upstream situation was the focus of investigation to assist in local pollution forecasting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality Prediction)
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10 pages, 2631 KiB  
Article
Future-Year Ozone Isopleths for South Coast, San Joaquin Valley, and Maryland
by Susan Collet, Toru Kidokoro, Prakash Karamchandani and Tejas Shah
Atmosphere 2018, 9(9), 354; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9090354 - 14 Sep 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5371
Abstract
Many areas of the United States are working toward achieving the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) attainment level. The objective of this study was to develop future-year (2030) volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides (VOC-NOx) isopleth diagrams of [...] Read more.
Many areas of the United States are working toward achieving the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) attainment level. The objective of this study was to develop future-year (2030) volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides (VOC-NOx) isopleth diagrams of the 4th highest maximum daily 8-h average ozone design value concentrations at monitors of interest in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) and San Joaquin Valley (SJV) in California, and in Maryland. The simulation results showed there would be attainment of the 2015 ozone NAAQS in 2030 without further controls at the selected monitors: 27% in SoCAB, 57% in SJV, and 100% in Maryland. The SoCAB ozone isopleths developed in this study were compared with those reported in the South Coast Air Quality Management District 2016 Air Quality Management Plan. There are several differences between the two modeling studies, the results are qualitatively similar for most of the monitors in the relative amounts of additional emission reductions needed to achieve the ozone NAAQS. The results of this study provide insight into designing potential control strategies for ozone attainment in future years for areas currently in non-attainment. Additional photochemical modeling using these strategies can then provide confirmation of the effectiveness of the controls. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality Prediction)
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23 pages, 15920 KiB  
Article
A Survey of Regional-Scale Blocking Patterns and Effects on Air Quality in Ontario, Canada
by Frank Dempsey
Atmosphere 2018, 9(6), 226; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9060226 - 12 Jun 2018
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3951
Abstract
Blocking weather patterns cause persistent weather situations that alter typical wind and circulation patterns which may result in stagnant weather conditions at the surface and potentially adverse conditions that affect society, such as extended warmth, drought, precipitation or fog. One problem that may [...] Read more.
Blocking weather patterns cause persistent weather situations that alter typical wind and circulation patterns which may result in stagnant weather conditions at the surface and potentially adverse conditions that affect society, such as extended warmth, drought, precipitation or fog. One problem that may develop is adverse concentrations of air pollutants in populated regions that may persist for several days or longer. This study looks for possible correlation between blocking patterns and air quality episodes in southern Ontario, Canada. The method used was examination of various cases of air quality episodes. The meteorological details of these examples were examined to determine possible correlations with blocking patterns. Results of the comparisons revealed that various types of blocking patterns correlated with worsening air quality episodes in various regions of southern Ontario. The conclusion is that some large-scale as well as regional-scale blocking patterns may cause adverse air quality in different cities or regions of the province during any month, and forecasters need to be vigilant for these patterns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality Prediction)
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