Articles | Volume 20, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1627-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1627-2020
Research article
 | 
10 Feb 2020
Research article |  | 10 Feb 2020

On the limit to the accuracy of regional-scale air quality models

S. Trivikrama Rao, Huiying Luo, Marina Astitha, Christian Hogrefe, Valerie Garcia, and Rohit Mathur

Related authors

Evaluating trends and seasonality in modeled PM2.5 concentrations using empirical mode decomposition
Huiying Luo, Marina Astitha, Christian Hogrefe, Rohit Mathur, and S. Trivikrama Rao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13801–13815, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13801-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13801-2020, 2020
Short summary
Online coupled regional meteorology chemistry models in Europe: current status and prospects
A. Baklanov, K. Schlünzen, P. Suppan, J. Baldasano, D. Brunner, S. Aksoyoglu, G. Carmichael, J. Douros, J. Flemming, R. Forkel, S. Galmarini, M. Gauss, G. Grell, M. Hirtl, S. Joffre, O. Jorba, E. Kaas, M. Kaasik, G. Kallos, X. Kong, U. Korsholm, A. Kurganskiy, J. Kushta, U. Lohmann, A. Mahura, A. Manders-Groot, A. Maurizi, N. Moussiopoulos, S. T. Rao, N. Savage, C. Seigneur, R. S. Sokhi, E. Solazzo, S. Solomos, B. Sørensen, G. Tsegas, E. Vignati, B. Vogel, and Y. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 317–398, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-317-2014,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-317-2014, 2014
Evaluating the capability of regional-scale air quality models to capture the vertical distribution of pollutants
E. Solazzo, R. Bianconi, G. Pirovano, M. D. Moran, R. Vautard, C. Hogrefe, K. W. Appel, V. Matthias, P. Grossi, B. Bessagnet, J. Brandt, C. Chemel, J. H. Christensen, R. Forkel, X. V. Francis, A. B. Hansen, S. McKeen, U. Nopmongcol, M. Prank, K. N. Sartelet, A. Segers, J. D. Silver, G. Yarwood, J. Werhahn, J. Zhang, S. T. Rao, and S. Galmarini
Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 791–818, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-791-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-791-2013, 2013

Related subject area

Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Enhancing long-term trend simulation of the global tropospheric hydroxyl (TOH) and its drivers from 2005 to 2019: a synergistic integration of model simulations and satellite observations
Amir H. Souri, Bryan N. Duncan, Sarah A. Strode, Daniel C. Anderson, Michael E. Manyin, Junhua Liu, Luke D. Oman, Zhen Zhang, and Brad Weir
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8677–8701, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8677-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8677-2024, 2024
Short summary
Intercomparison of GEOS-Chem and CAM-chem tropospheric oxidant chemistry within the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2)
Haipeng Lin, Louisa K. Emmons, Elizabeth W. Lundgren, Laura Hyesung Yang, Xu Feng, Ruijun Dang, Shixian Zhai, Yunxiao Tang, Makoto M. Kelp, Nadia K. Colombi, Sebastian D. Eastham, Thibaud M. Fritz, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8607–8624, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8607-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8607-2024, 2024
Short summary
Development of a detailed gaseous oxidation scheme of naphthalene for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation and speciation
Victor Lannuque and Karine Sartelet
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8589–8606, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8589-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8589-2024, 2024
Short summary
Large contributions of soil emissions to the atmospheric nitrogen budget and their impacts on air quality and temperature rise in North China
Tong Sha, Siyu Yang, Qingcai Chen, Liangqing Li, Xiaoyan Ma, Yan-Lin Zhang, Zhaozhong Feng, K. Folkert Boersma, and Jun Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8441–8455, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8441-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8441-2024, 2024
Short summary
Why did ozone concentrations remain high during Shanghai's static management? A statistical and radical-chemistry perspective
Jian Zhu, Shanshan Wang, Chuanqi Gu, Zhiwen Jiang, Sanbao Zhang, Ruibin Xue, Yuhao Yan, and Bin Zhou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8383–8395, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8383-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8383-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Appel, K. W., Chemel, C., Roselle, S. J., Francis, X. V., Hu, R.-M., Sokhi, R. S., Rao, S. T., and Galmarini, S.: Examination of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model performance over the North American and European domains. Atmospheric Environment, AQMEII: An International Initiative for the Evaluation of Regional-Scale Air Quality Models – Phase 1, 53, 142–155, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.11.016, 2012. 
Astitha, M., Luo, H., Rao, S. T., Hogrefe, C., Mathur, R., and Kumar, N.: Dynamic evaluation of two decades of WRF-CMAQ ozone simulations over the contiguous United States, Atmos. Environ., 164, 102–116, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.05.020, 2017. 
Biswas, J. and Rao, S. T.: Uncertainties in episodic ozone modeling stemming from uncertainties in the meteorological fields, J. Appl. Meteor., 40, 117–136, 2001. 
Bocquet, M., Elbern, H., Eskes, H., Hirtl, M., Žabkar, R., Carmichael, G. R., Flemming, J., Inness, A., Pagowski, M., Pérez Camaño, J. L., Saide, P. E., San Jose, R., Sofiev, M., Vira, J., Baklanov, A., Carnevale, C., Grell, G., and Seigneur, C.: Data assimilation in atmospheric chemistry models: current status and future prospects for coupled chemistry meteorology models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5325–5358, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5325-2015, 2015. 
Download
Short summary
Since numerical air quality models do not explicitly simulate stochastic variations in the atmosphere, there will always be differences between modeled and measured pollutant levels even when the model's physics, chemistry, numerical analysis, and its input data are perfect. This paper quantifies the inherent uncertainty in regional models due to the stochastic nature of the atmosphere. A knowledge of the expected error helps model developers in evaluating the real progress in improving models.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint