Validation of WRF Model During O3 Episodes in an Atlantic Coastal Region

Abstract

The accurate simulation of PBL dynamics is the most critical aspect of meteorological physics for air quality modeling. In this work, the performance of WRF meteorological model in three different types of high-O3 episodes (Saavedra S. Characterization of tropospheric ozone episodes in Galicia by applying different simulation techniques and interpretation of field data. Ph. Degree thesis (in Spanish), University of Santiago de Compostela, 2010) in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula (IP) is evaluated. Four different planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes were tested. Surface temperature and wind (speed and direction) simulation results were compared to hourly measurements at 10-m meteorological towers. Following statistics proposed by Emery (Enhanced meteorological modeling and performance evaluation for two Texas ozone episodes. Prepared for the Texas natural resource conservation commission, by ENVIRON international corporation, 2001) for wind speed and temperature, the best model performance is achieved using the Yonsei University (YSU) scheme; Asymmetric Convective Model (ACM2) is more suitable for temperature, and Mellor-Yamada Nakanishi and Niino Level 2.5 PBL (MYNN) are better for wind speed. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.