Air Quality Monitoring
and Forecasting in China		 Tue 7 Sep, 11:17 
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Air quality model

The air quality forecasts are made with the CHIMERE regional transport model (version V200606A) which has been adapted to cover East Asia from 18°N-50°N and 102°E-132°E on a 0.25° × 0.25° resolution. Meteorological forecast data is taken from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The gas-phase chemistry is described by the reduced MELCHIOR scheme [Derognat, 2002]; aerosol processes are included according to Bessagnet et al. [2004]. The boundary conditions for the model domain are taken from monthly climatologies. Emission of pollutants are taken from the recent INTEX-B emission inventory by Zhang et al. [2009], containing the yearly totals of SO2, NOx, CO, VOC, PM10, PM2.5, BC, and OC by 4 sectors (power, industry, residential, and transportation) for the year 2006.

In Europe, CHIMERE has been extensively intercompared to other urban air quality models [e.g., Vautard et al., 2006] and evaluated against ground-based measurements and satellite data [e.g., Blond et al., 2007]. For China validation activities are still ongoing, but the comparison with e.g. the data of the environmental protection bureaus show good agreement. Night time concentrations in cities, however, can be overestimated due to slow vertical mixing and a low nocturnal boundary layer, caused by a too weak urban heat island effect in the model. The model does not include desert dust, and will therefore not simulate reliable results of particulate matter during dust storm events.

Version history

  • 3 June, 2008: Start operational daily 2-day forecast service for East China, Beijing, Shanghai, Shengyang, Pearl River Delta, Qingdao, and Seoul.
  • 23 November 2008: Bug fixed in diurnal cycle of emissions.
  • 19 November 2009: Switch from 0.5 degree resolution to 0.2 degree resolution emission inventory database.

References

Bessagnet, B., A. Hodzic, R. Vautard, M. Beekmann, S. Cheinet, C. Honoré, C. Liousse, and L. Rouïl (2004), Aerosol modeling with CHIMERE - Preliminary evaluation at the continental scale, Atmos. Environ., 38, 2803-2817.

Blond, N., K. F. Boersma, H. J. Eskes, R. J. van der A, M. Van Roozendael, I. De Smedt, G. Bergametti, and R. Vautard (2007), Intercomparison of SCIAMACHY nitrogen dioxide observations, in situ measurements and air quality modeling results over Western Europe, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D10311, doi:10.1029/2006JD007277.

Derognat, C. (2002), Pollution photooxydante à l'échelle urbaine et interaction avec l'échelle régionale, Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Paris VI, Paris.

Vautard, R., et al. (2006), Evaluation and intercomparison of ozone and PM10 simulations by several chemistry transport models over 4 European cities within the CityDelta project, Atmos. Environ., 41, 173-188.

Zhang, Q., et al. (2009), Asian emissions in 2006 for the NASA INTEX-B mission, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 9, 4081-4139.