R. M. González

Ozone Modelling Over A Large City By Using A Mesoscale Eulerian Model: Madrid Case Study

An Air Quality Model has been applied over the mesoscale urban area of Madrid (Spain). The Model is composed on different modules: a mesoscale meteorological module REMEST which solves the Navier-Stokes equation system over the Madrid domain. This model is running under the non-hydrostatic option and is the main code of the system. The model solves the prognostic equations by using an Eulerian approach and integrated an eulerian transport equation which is solved simultaneously. The meteorological module provides the wind speed, direction, temperature and humidity on a three dimensional domain at very short time steps (a few seconds). The model uses a 14 different landuse types which are obtained by using the REMO module which uses the information provided by the LANDUSE satellite image over the area with 30 m spatial resolution. The model transport the emitted pollutants into the domain and deposit them over the domain. The emission module EMIMA takes into account the point, line and area emissions over the area. Special importance is given to the biogenic emissions which are obtained by using the satellite landuse classification for caducous, perenneal and mixed terrain. The emission module considers the EPA and CORINAIR emission factors and is 250x250 m spatial resolution and 1 hour temporal resolution. The deposition module DEPO uses the resistance approach Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 10,

On the Use of MRF/AVN Global Information to Improve the Operational Air Quality Model OPANA

Operational air quality models have become an important tool to assist the decision makers in European Environmental Offices at different levels: cities, regional and state. Because of the important advance on computing capabilities during the last few years the possibility of incorporating the complex research and academic mesoscale air quality models under routine operational basis has become a reality. OPANA model is the operational version of the research model ANA (Atmospheric mesoscale Numerical pollution model for regional and urban Areas). This model is a limited area model (mesoscale beta) and the capability to extend the prediction horizon is limited unless proper boundary conditions are provided during long simulations. In this contribution we show how AVN/MRF (NOAA) vertical numerical meteorological soundings are incorporated to the OPANA system by using JAVA technology. This new feature helps to keep the air quality model into medium power workstations and the performance is improved accordingly. This technology avoids running mesoscale models over larger areas (continental scale) to accordingly increase the forecasting temporal horizon.

The evaluation of the air quality impact of an incinerator by using MM5-CMAQ-EMIMO modeling system : North of Spain case study

The use of sophisticated air pollution modeling systems to evaluate the impact of different industrial plant emissions is currently done in an extensive way. MM5-CMAQ (PSU/NCAR and EPA, USA) is one of the most applicable air quality modeling systems to evaluate those impacts. In this contribution we present the methodology and results obtained when applying the MM5-CMAQ air quality modeling system for evaluating the potential impact of an incinerator in San Sebastián (Basque Country, Spain). We have used the EMIMO (UPM, Spain) emission model to simulate the emissions from biogenic and anthropogenic sources including traffic and tertiary sector sources. The study includes the air quality impact of a highway located near the incinerator named A8 and 6 industrial plants which already exist. The impact study has been compared with the results obtained from this highway impact and the 6 industrial plants which are normally operating during the last 30 years. The system has been prepared to simulate also Cadmium, Arsenic, Nickel, Lead and Benzo(a)pyrene air quality impacts. The PCDD/F air concentrations have been determined for the 16 toxic dioxins and furans as determined in the bibliography. The criteria pollutants such as CO, NOx, SO(2), PM(10) and O(3) have also been determined according to the different EU Directives which limit the values of such a pollutants for different periods of time.

Elevated PM10 And PM2.5 ConcentrationsIn Europe: A Model Experiment WithMM5-CMAQ And WRF-CHEM

We have applied the MM5-CMAQ model to simulate the high concentrations in PM10 and PM2.5 during a winter episode (2003) in Central Europe. The selected period is January 15 – April 6 2003. Values of daily mean concentrations up to 75 μgm are found on average of several monitoring stations in Northern Germany. This model evaluation shows that there is an increasing underestimation of primary and secondary species with increasing observed PM10. The high PM levels were observed under stagnant weather conditions that are difficult to simulate. The MM5 is the PSU/NCAR non-hydrostatic meteorological model and CMAQ is the chemical dispersion model developed by EPA (US) used in this simulation with CBM-V. The TNO emission inventory was used to simulate the PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations with the MM5-CMAQ model. The results show a substantial underestimation of the elevated values in February and March 2003. An increase on the PM2.5 emissions (five times) produces the expected results and the correlation coefficient increases slightly. The WRF/CHEM model results show an excellent performance with correct emission database. The main difference between MM5-CMAQ simulations and WRF/CHEM is the MOSAIC particle models and the “classical” MADE/SORGAM particle model used in WRF/CHEM and CMAQ respectively. MOSAIC seems to make a better job than MADE particle model for this particular episode.

Integrated Environmental Monitoring,Forecasting And Warning Systems InMetropolitan Areas (EMMA): MadridApplication

EMMA project, -an European Union DGXIII project-, is dealing with the development, test and validation of innovative telematics system for the monitoring and forecasting of air pollution in urban areas. Telematics components including multimedia products and services are extensively used in the project: a) specialized networks, b) CIS and Multimedia archiving systems and high definition terminals. Pollution and weather data are collected through highly automated telematics networks from all fixed stations in the metropolitan area. These data are stored in integrated relational databases and are analyzed and distributed according to EMMA architecture and presented in a user-friendly way using graphical tools. Madrid is a demo site in the EMMA project. Observations of SO^ NO*, (%, CO, PM10, Aromatic and radioactivity are used together with humidity, wind, Transactions on Ecology and the Environment vol 13,

Accurate ozone prognostic patterns for Madrid area by using a high spatial and temporal eulerian photochemical model

The ANA Air Quality Model (ANA stands for Atmospheric Mesoscale Numerical Pollution Model for Regional and Urban Areas) has been applied over Madrid during a five day period in June, 1995. The domain is 80 × 100 km2 and the spatial resolution is 2000 m. The ANA system is driven by a meteorological model REMEST and it includes a detailed emission model for anthropogenic and biogenic sources with 250 m spatial resolution and 60 minutes temporal resolution. Different deposition processes are used such as the Wesely (1989) and Erisman et al. (1994) resistance approaches and the simple aerodynamic resistance. The photochemical processes and the general chemistry is based on the CBM-IV mechanism for the organic compounds and solved by the SMVGEAR method (CHEMA module).The model uses 14 different landuse types which are obtained by using the REMO module which uses the information provided by the LANDSAT-5 satellite image over the domain. The emission module EMIMA takes into account the point, line and area emissions over the domain. Special importance is given to the biogenic emissions which are obtained by using the satellite landuse classification for caducous, perenneal and mixed terrain. The emission module considers the EPA and CORINAIR emission factors. The results show an accurate prediction of the ozone maxima for the five days and also the general pattern of the ozone observed data. The five day simulation is characterized by a local low pressure over the Madrid Area and high pressures over Spain and West of Europe. The ozone surface patterns show the diurnal cycle and the maxima concentrations up to 140-160 ppb for suburban areas during afternoon hours. The general performance of the model is considered quite good. The computer power requirements continue to be very high for standard workstations. Future progress on parallel platforms should improve considerably the computer time requirements.

Advanced Numerical Methods for Complex Environmental Models: Needs and Availability

The understanding of lakes physical dynamics is crucial to provide scientifically credible information foron lakes ecosystem management. We show how the combination of in-situ dataobservations, remote sensing observationsdata and three15 dimensional hydrodynamic (3D) numerical simulations is capable of deliveringresolving various spatio-temporal scales involved in lakes dynamics. This combination is achieved through data assimilation (DA) and uncertainty quantification. In this study, we presentdevelop a flexible framework forby incorporating DA into lakes three-dimensional3D hydrodynamic lake models. Using an Ensemble Kalman Filter, our approach accounts for model and observational uncertainties. We demonstrate the framework by assimilating in-situ and satellite remote sensing temperature data into a three-dimensional3Dl hydrodynamic 20 model of Lake Geneva. Results show that DA effectively improves model performance over a broad range of spatio-temporal scales and physical processes. Overall, temperature errors have been reduced by 54 %. With a localization scheme, an ensemble size of 20 members is found to be sufficient to derive covariance matrices leading to satisfactory results. The entire framework has been developed for the constraintswith a goal of near real-time operational systems and near real-time operations (e.g. integration into meteolakes.ch). 25

A mesoscale study of the impact of industrial emissions by using the MM5-CMAQ modelling system

The scientific interest in improving the air quality tools that provide a detailed description – source oriented – of atmospheric processes and the impact of specific large industrial emission points is growing. This paper describes the results of using a state-of-the-art third-generation air quality modelling system (MM5-CMAQ) over a pilot test industrial site in the Madrid mesoscale domain. The MM5 model is a web-based non-hydrostatic mesoscale meteorological model developed by PSU/NCAR, and the CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality Modelling System) is a third-generation air quality dispersion model developed by the US EPA. Both are modular codes and include an interface called MCIP, which assures full consistency with the numerical methods in the advection and diffusion schemes in the meteorological module and the chemistry and dispersion module. The application has been done with the CBM-IV chemical scheme (simple version). The results of running the so-called ON/OFF approach – in other words, the differences between the simulation with full industrial emissions and no industrial emissions – show that the MM5-CMAQ modelling system can be used as an excellent tool for evaluating the impact of different emission sources in an operational mode. Results also show that increases up to 50% on average and larger values for hourly impacts for ozone concentrations are found in the surrounding areas of the industrial plant. In addition, we see that the distance where the industrial emissions are impacting on the air quality can be larger than 40 km.

EMMA model: an advanced operational mesoscale air quality model for urban and regional environments

Mesoscale air quality models are an important tool to forecast and analyse the air quality in regional and urban areas. In recent years an increased interest has been shown by decision makers in these types of software tools. The complexity of such a model has grown exponentially with the increase of computer power. Nowadays, medium workstations can run operational versions of these modelling systems successfully. Presents a complex mesoscale air quality model which has been installed in the Environmental Office of the Madrid community (Spain) in order to forecast accurately the ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide air concentrations in a 3D domain centred on Madrid city. Describes the challenging scientific matters to be solved in order to develop an operational version of the atmospheric mesoscale numerical pollution model for urban and regional areas (ANA). Some encouraging results have been achieved in the attempts to improve the accuracy of the predictions made by the version already installed.

Impacts of the 4.5 and 8.5 RCP global climate scenarios on urban meteorology and air quality

Climate change is expected to influence urban living conditions and challenge the ability of cities to adapt and mitigate climate change. This paper describes a new modelling system for climate change impact assessments on urban climate and air quality with feasible computational costs (the expected CPU time is too large for actual supercomputer platforms). The system takes the outputs from a global climate model, which are injected into a dynamical regional climate model (WRF-Chem) with the nested capability activated, with 25 km spatial resolution. In addition, the system uses a diagnostic meteorological model (CALMET) to produce urban detailed information (with 200 m spatial resolution) using this downscaling procedure. At the city level, a simplified chemical-transport model (based on CMAQ and using linear chemistry) is used to map the spatial distribution of the pollutants. The system is applied to five European cities: Madrid, Antwerp, Milan, Helsinki and London (Kensington-Chelsea area). The modelling system was used to simulate the climate and air quality for present year (2011) and future years (2030, 2050 and 2100) using 2011 emissions as control run, because we want to investigate the effects on the global climate on the actual (2011) cities. Effects on temperature, precipitation, and ozone are also considered. We compare the climate and air concentrations in future years 2030, 2050 and 2100 with the control year (2011). Comparison of simulations for present situation (using NNRP reanalysis 2011 data sets) shows acceptable agreement with measurements which give us strong confidence on the results for the RCP IPCC climate future simulations for 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. Impacts of global climate on urban scale are showed for 2030, 2050 and 2100 for 4.5 and 8.5 RCP IPCC climate scenarios.Dynamical and diagnostic downscaling processes are properly combined.Two RCP scenarios are considered: 4.5 and 8.5.Present (2011) and future (2030, 2050 and 210) years are simulated.