Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.9 The Impact of MM5 and WRF Meteorology over
Complex Terrain on CHIMERE Model Calculations
A. de Meij
1
, A. Gzella
1
, C. Cuvelier
1
, P. Thunis
1
, B. Bessagnet
2
, J.F. Vinuesa
1
,
L. Menut
3
, and H. Kelder
4
1
European Commission
-
DG Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and
Sustainability, I-21020 Ispra, Italy
2
INERIS, Institut National de l'Environnement industriel et des Risques, Parc Technologique
ALATA, F-60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
3
Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Ecole
Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
4
Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven,
The Netherlands
Abstract
The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of meteorological
input data on calculated gas and aerosol concentrations. We use two different
meteorological models (MM5 and WRF) together with the chemistry transport
model CHIMERE. We focus on the Po valley area (Italy) for January and June
2005.
Firstly we evaluate the meteorological parameters with observations. The
analysis shows that the performance of both models in calculating surface para-
meters is similar, however differences are still observed.
Secondly, we analyze the impact of using MM5 and WRF on calculated
PM10 and O
3
concentrations. In general CHIMERE/MM5 and CHIMERE/WRF
underestimate the PM10 concentrations for January. The difference in PM10
concentrations for January between CHIMERE/MM5 and CHIMERE/WRF is
around a factor 1.6 (PM10 higher for CHIMERE/MM5). This difference and the
larger underestimation in PM10 concentrations by CHIMERE/WRF are related to
the differences in heat fluxes and the resulting PBL heights calculated by WRF.
Keywords
MM5, WRF, meteorology, aerosol, sensitivity analysis, chemical trans-
port model.
1. Introduction
Aerosols play an important role in health effects (respiratory and cardiovascular
disease, Moshammer and Neuberger, 2003), pollution, eutrophication / acidification
