Application of U.S. EPA's Models-3 prototype to two airsheds in the United States

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:20002096

Pai, P; Vijayaraghavan, K; Lohman, K; Seigneur, C; Hansen, A

The Multiscale Air Quality Simulation Platform (MAQSIP) is a prototype for US EPA's Models-3. Using the modular software design of MAQSIP, an air quality model can be constructed by selecting science modules from various options. The authors present results from application of MAQSIP to the Los Angeles basin. The application to the Los Angeles basin consisted of simulating the August 1987 Southern California Air Quality Study (SCAQS) episode and benchmarking the performance of MAQSIP against that of another comprehensive air quality model, SAQM. The meteorology to drive the two models was generated by the mesoscale model MM5. The input emissions, initial conditions, and boundary conditions were mostly identical for both models. The science modules of MAQSIP were chosen so as to emulate SAQM. Therefore, differences in the estimates of the two models are primarily due to differences in the software design. After the benchmarking exercise, the authors applied the MAQSIP/MM5 system to the 1995 SOS Nashville/Middle Tennessee database. Evaluation of the modeling system is currently ongoing and consists of comparisons of model estimates against corresponding surface observations from a network of sites and upper air observations from aircraft.

• Research Organization: Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., San Ramon, CA (US)
• OSTI ID: 20002096
• Report Number(s): CONF-990608--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
LOS ANGELES
M CODES
PERFORMANCE
S CODES
TENNESSEE