Extended Abstract (260K)1.4
The use of inter-regional transport simulations to verify the Australian Air Quality Forecasting System
Kevin J. Tory, BMRC, Melbourne, Vic., Australia; and M. E. Cope, G. D. Hess, S. Lee, P. C. Manins, K. Puri, and N. Wong
The Australian Air Quality Forecasting System (AAQFS), developed under the Air Pollution in Major Cities Program sponsored by Environment Australia, has been producing 24-36 hour forecasts of air quality pollutants for the Melbourne and Sydney regions since 1998. These forecasts include predictions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), benzene (C6H6), formaldehyde (CH2O) and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), and are issued to the Environment Protection Authorities of Victoria and NSW twice per day for guidance. Extension of the System to Tasmania provides a unique opportunity to verify the System using inter-regional transport simulations. Under conditions of northerly synoptic winds the urban plume from Melbourne is transported across Bass Strait (a region (largely) free of anthropogenic pollutant sources) to the state of Tasmania. A series of forecasts, including additional species representing freon-11 and freon-12, were carried out for conditions of inter-regional transport. These pollutant forecasts were verified, using data from the Bureau of Meteorology/CSIRO Baseline Monitoring Station at Cape Grim, Tasmania (320 km to the south of Melbourne) and the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industry, Water and Environment monitoring station at Launceston, Tasmania (440 km to the south southeast of Melbourne). The comparisons provided valuable tests of the overall System as well as various components, e.g. the emissions inventory, the sea-salt parameterisation scheme, and the dilution calculations.
Session 1, meso- and regional-scale dispersion
Monday, 20 May 2002, 9:00 AM-10:44 AM
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