Comparison of WRF and MM5 Simulations for Air-Quality Applications

To help California state agencies better meet their need to improve meteorological modeling in their state implementation plans for air quality mandate, simulations using both MM5 and WRF are compared for a State Implementation Plan (SIP) case with the observations taken during the 2000 CCOS field experiment in the Central Valley and the Northern Bay Area. The purpose of this comparison is to compare MM5 and WRF for air quality applications in California. Such a meteorological model appraisal effort is intended to (1) provide a baseline upon which future meteorological model improvements for the California SIP's can be documented and evaluated, and (2) to assess the skill of WRF in reproducing locally forced meteorological conditions for the researchers who rely on numerical model simulations to provide new knowledge about the meteorological processes that influence air quality.