Impacts of biomass burning emission inventories and atmospheric reanalyses on simulated PM10 over Indochina

Abstract

Abstract: Biomass burning (BB) is a major source of atmospheric particles over Indochina during the dry season. Moreover, Indochina has convoluted meteorological scales, and regional meteorological conditions dominate the transport patterns of pollutants. This study focused on the impacts of BB emission inventories and atmospheric reanalyses on simulated PM10 over Indochina in 2014 using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Meteorological fields to input to CMAQ were produced by using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulation with the United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction Final (NCEP FNL) Operational Global Analysis or European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Interim Reanalysis (ERA-interim). The Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN) vl.5 or the Global Fire Emissions Database including small fires (GFED v4.1s) was selected for BB emissions for the air quality simulation. The simulation case with NCEP FNL and FINN vl.5 (FNL + FINN) performed best throughout 2014, including the season when BB activities were intensified. The normalized percentage difference for maximum daily mean PMjo concentrations at Chiang Mai for FNL + FINN and the two simulation cases applying GFED v4.1s for BB emissions (-53% to-27%) was much larger than that between the FNL + FINN and ERA + FINN cases (10%). BB emission inventories more strongly impacted PMjq simulation than atmospheric reanalyses in highly polluted areas by BB over Indochina in 2014.