Evaluation of WRF-Chemistry air quality forecasts produced during CalNex-2010

CalNex-2010 was a significant air quality field study conducted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the California Air Resources Board (ARB), and academic researchers. It occurred from May through June of 2010. Several aircraft and a research vessel (Atlantis) along with ground observation site collected spatial and temporal data related to air quality in California. Observations from this study are being used to improve air quality forecast models.

During the field program, several air quality forecast were used to provide guidance for the mobile observation platforms. One of the forecast used to provide real-time weather and air quality forecasts was generated by the WRF/Chem model run by NOAA Earth System Research Lab (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD).

This study will examine results obtained from the real-time WRF/Chem air quality forecasts. The presentation will focus on the ability of the numerical model to accurately reproduce the observed meteorological conditions, as well as the observed air quality for the California region.