Evaluation of the Variability in Chemical Transport Model Performance for Deposition and Ambient Concentrations of Nitrogen and Sulfur Compounds
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- • Ecological effects related to deposition are usually associated with depositional loads occurring over periods of months to years, which differ significantly from the short-term concentrations used by the current standards;
- • The current standards, which use NO2 and SO2 as indicators, address only a fraction of total atmospheric oxides of nitrogen and sulfur because they do not capture all relevant chemical species of nitrogen and sulfur that contribute to deposition; and
- • Under the current standards, NO2 and SO2 are assessed individually even though they play a joint role in acidifying aquatic ecosystems.
- • Indicator: The concentration of all the major oxides of sulfur (SOX = SO2 + particulate SO4) and nitrogen (NOY = NO + NO2 + HNO3 + PAN + 2 N2O5 + HONO + NO3 + organic nitrates + particulate NO3);
- • Form: The Aquatic Acidification Index (AAI) designed to be an ecologically relevant form of the standard that determines the allowable levels of ambient NOY and SOX;
- • Averaging Time: An annual averaging time based on the average of each year over a consecutive 3 to 5 year period; and
- • Level: A target chronic Acid Neutralizing Capacity (ANC) value in range of 20 to 70 µeq/L.
2. Modeling Databases
Study | Model (Version) | Emiss/Met Year | Domain (Grid Resolution) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grid #1 | Grid #2 | Grid #3 | |||
VISTAS 1 | CMAQ (V4.5.1_SOAmods) | 2002/2002 | CONUS (36 km) 6 | SE US (12 km) 7 | - |
2009/2002 | |||||
2012/2002 | |||||
2018/2002 | |||||
UBAQS 2 | CMAQ (V4.6) | 2005/2005 | CONUS (36 km) | UT-CO (12 km) 8 | - |
2006/2006 | |||||
2012/2005 | |||||
2012/2006 | |||||
EPRI 3 | CMAQ (AMSTERDAM) | 2002/2002 | - | E US (12 km) 9 | - |
General 4 | CAMx (V5.21) | 2005/2005 | CONUS (36 km) | - | - |
2006/2006 | |||||
FCAQTF 5 | CAMx (V4.51) | 2018/2005 | CONUS (36 km) | SW US (12 km) 10 | 4Corners (4 km) 11 |
3. Model Performance Evaluation
VISTAS 2002 | UBAQS 2005 3 | UBAQS 2006 | General 2005 | General 2006 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MNB | MNE | MNB | MNE | MNB | MNE | MNB | MNE | MNB | MNE | ||
Concentrations (CASTNET) | |||||||||||
SO2 | Native | 33 | 55 | 23 | 54 | 47 | 68 | 67 | 80 | 96 | 106 |
Annual | 27 | 38 | 9.4 | 28 | 30 | 42 | 43 | 52 | 69 | 76 | |
SO4 | Native | −16 | 30 | −22 | 33 | −16 | 31 | 13 | 45 | 20 | 45 |
Annual | −22 | 22 | −30 | 30 | −23 | 24 | −3.2 | 19 | 7.1 | 26 | |
HNO3 | Native | 36 | 63 | −6.0 | 50 | 6.2 | 51 | 8.6 | 48 | 20 | 51 |
Annual | 20 | 35 | −12 | 31 | −1.3 | 29 | −3.5 | 25 | 6.8 | 27 | |
NO3 | Native | 58 | 146 | 171 | 229 | 142 | 199 | 92 | 169 | 87 | 158 |
Annual | 35 | 97 | 116 | 127 | 100 | 112 | 60 | 91 | 47 | 77 | |
Dry deposition (CASTNET) | |||||||||||
SO2 | Native | 148 | 163 | 176 | 187 | 205 | 216 | 196 | 204 | 224 | 233 |
Annual | 104 | 109 | 134 | 136 | 148 | 154 | 141 | 143 | 155 | 161 | |
SO4 | Native | −11 | 105 | 257 | 279 | 301 | 321 | 132 | 151 | 140 | 157 |
Annual | −58 | 66 | 112 | 118 | 123 | 130 | 45 | 57 | 55 | 68 | |
HNO3 | Native | 131 | 145 | 100 | 125 | 105 | 127 | 219 | 227 | 220 | 228 |
Annual | 75 | 81 | 68 | 75 | 76 | 83 | 141 | 142 | 154 | 157 | |
NO3 | Native | −28 | 116 | 739 | 801 | 652 | 714 | 342 | 405 | 280 | 344 |
Annual | −57 | 71 | 326 | 335 | 308 | 316 | 147 | 170 | 114 | 140 | |
NH4 | Native | −58 | 74 | 116 | 156 | 127 | 161 | 69 | 106 | 77 | 107 |
Annual | −72 | 72 | 35 | 55 | 49 | 66 | 12 | 36 | 22 | 41 | |
Wet deposition (NADP) | |||||||||||
Total SO4 | Native | 88 | 147 | 138 | 186 | 97 | 147 | 71 | 148 | 40 | 123 |
Annual | 48 | 74 | 75 | 99 | 27 | 50 | 33 | 73 | 6.1 | 45 | |
Total NO3 | Native | 13 | 91 | 41 | 107 | 30 | 102 | −25 | 81 | −33 | 79 |
Annual | −4.8 | 52 | 44 | 88 | −15 | 38 | −3.6 | 99 | −51 | 57 | |
Total NH4 | Native | 52 | 131 | 318 | 371 | 223 | 277 | 153 | 246 | 59 | 157 |
Annual | 3.5 | 66 | 26 | 64 | 11 | 45 | −24 | 61 | −36 | 51 | |
Concentrations (AQS) | |||||||||||
NOY | Native | 76 | 101 | - | - | 56 | 88 | 60 | 90 | 56 | 88 |
Annual | 41 | 54 | - | - | 29 | 53 | 44 | 61 | 29 | 51 | |
Concentrations (SEARCH) | |||||||||||
NOY | Native | 40 | 80 | - | - | 37 | 75 | 38 | 81 | 42 | 83 |
Annual | −11 | 44 | - | - | −7.4 | 42 | −7.7 | 47 | −3.5 | 47 |
4. Variability in Transference Ratios and Reduced Nitrogen Loading
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgment
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Koo, B.; Piyachaturawat, P.; Morris, R.; Knipping, E. Evaluation of the Variability in Chemical Transport Model Performance for Deposition and Ambient Concentrations of Nitrogen and Sulfur Compounds. Atmosphere 2012, 3, 400-418. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos3030400
Koo B, Piyachaturawat P, Morris R, Knipping E. Evaluation of the Variability in Chemical Transport Model Performance for Deposition and Ambient Concentrations of Nitrogen and Sulfur Compounds. Atmosphere. 2012; 3(3):400-418. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos3030400
Chicago/Turabian StyleKoo, Bonyoung, Piti Piyachaturawat, Ralph Morris, and Eladio Knipping. 2012. "Evaluation of the Variability in Chemical Transport Model Performance for Deposition and Ambient Concentrations of Nitrogen and Sulfur Compounds" Atmosphere 3, no. 3: 400-418. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos3030400