Overview of the Canadian air quality forecasting system

For the past four years, the Meteorological Service of Canada has provided daily ozone forecasts over North America using a numerical Air Quality Forecasting Model (AQFM). The three-dimensional chemical transport model has evolved over the course of the program through improvements to existing process treatments and inclusion of additional parameterizations such as the ability to predict particulate matter. In parallel to the operational AQFM, additional developmental versions are also run to investigate potential new improvements such as chemical data assimilation and more detailed particulate matter parameterizations. Operational and developmental simulations are all subjected to the same verification process, which drives the development of the future operational version. The presentation will review past and present performances of the Canadian AQFM forecasts, as well as current products from the AQF program and future directions.