WRF simulations in Urban Environments in Support of Trace Gas Dispersion Modeling

We report on Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations in urban environments that were conducted to support off-line dispersion modeling of trace gases using a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model (LPDM). Results will be presented from simulations in two very different urban environments: Salt Lake City, Utah, a moderately sized city situated in a mountainous region, and a model domain encompassing the Boston, Massachusetts and New York City metropolitan areas. Comparison against available observations from standard National Weather Service (NWS) observation sites, mesoscale meteorological networks, and special field campaign data will be used to illustrate the extent to which the model reproduces key features of the urban boundary layer, the sensitivity of these results to different aspects of the model configuration, and issues of data quality and representativeness for the different types of observations.