Abstract
We present a detailed evaluation of the seasonal performance of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modelling system and the PSU/NCAR meteorological model coupled to a new Numerical Emission Model for Air Quality (MNEQA). The combined system simulates air quality at a fine resolution (3 km as horizontal resolution and 1 h as temporal resolution) in north-eastern Spain, where problems of ozone pollution are frequent. An extensive database compiled over two periods, from May to September 2009 and 2010, is used to evaluate meteorological simulations and chemical outputs. Our results indicate that the model accurately reproduces hourly and 1-h and 8-h maximum ozone surface concentrations measured at the air quality stations, as statistical values fall within the EPA and EU recommendations. However, to further improve forecast accuracy, three simple bias-adjustment techniques—mean subtraction (MS), ratio adjustment (RA), and hybrid forecast (HF)—based on 10 days of available comparisons are applied. The results show that the MS technique performed better than RA or HF, although all the bias-adjustment techniques significantly reduce the systematic errors in ozone forecasts.
Highlights
As a result of combined emissions of nitrogen oxides and organic compounds, large amounts of ozone are found in the planetary boundary layer
We present a detailed evaluation of the seasonal performance of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modelling system and the PSU/NCAR meteorological model coupled to a new Numerical Emission Model for Air Quality (MNEQA)
This paper describes the evaluation of a coupled regional airquality modelling system used to simulate ozone over the north-western Mediterranean area (Catalonia) during two periods from May to September in both 2009 and 2010
Summary
As a result of combined emissions of nitrogen oxides and organic compounds, large amounts of ozone are found in the planetary boundary layer. Some authors as [4] suggest that the effects on plants of indirect radiative forcing by ozone could contribute more to global warming than direct radiative forcing due to tropospheric ozone does. Ozone is a respiratory irritant to humans, and it damages both natural and man-made materials such as stone, brickwork, and rubber [5]. All these harmful effects are significant in Southern Europe, especially in the western and eastern Mediterranean area [6,7,8,9] as in summer solar radiation that exacerbates the effects of ozone. The environmental benefits of monitoring, quantifying, modeling, and forecasting the dose and exposure of the human population, vegetation, and materials to ozone are an essential precondition for assessing the scale of ozone impact and devising control strategies [12]
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