"One Atmosphere" Modeling for Air Quality:

Building Partnerships that Transition Research into Applications

Atmospheric Sciences Modeling Division, NOAA/Air Resources Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC

Public Air Quality Forecasts

EPA has partnered with NOAA's National Weather
Service (NWS) to provide a national air quality
modeling forecast capability. CMAQ has been linked
to the Eta weather I
forecast model to
generate daily 03
forecasts, available
to the public at
www.weather.gov &
www, e pa. g ov/ai mow
A multi-day national
forecast of fine
particulate matter
concentrations
should be available
within the next
decade

National Air Toxics Assessment

In response to recommendations by
EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB),
the chemical mechanism in CMAQ
has been extended to include an array
of air toxic compounds for the National
Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). A
memorandum of collaboration has
also been signed with EPA Region
and Delaware to apply CMAQ for
urban "hot spot" analysis of air toxics
to support human exposure
.assessments.

Support for EPA's National Rulemaking

EPA's Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) recently selected
CMAQ as the key model for the Clear Air Interstate Rule
(CAIR) and the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR). As cited
by OAR, "in the development of CAIR, CMAQ was used to:

-	Quantify interstate PM2.5 transport providing the
basis to identify States that contribute significant amounts
of PM2.5 to nonattainment in other States. These results
were used to identify those States to include in the CAIR
control region.

-	Quantify the expected benefits of CAIR
controls in 2010 and 2015 in terms of reductions in PM2.5
nonattainment counties, the extent of harmful health
effects of PM2.5 and acid deposition, as well as the
improvements in visibility in Class I areas."

Support for SIP Development

A model clearinghouse has been established to
transfer CMAQ to the air quality modeling community to
support development of SIPs for 03 and PM2.5. UNC's
Center for Environmental Programs provides support
for this activity through the Community Modeling and
Analysis System (CM AS). CM AS was formed in 2001
as a conduit for community outreach, shared
development, and application of air quality tools related
to CMAQ. CM AS has also assembled a standing peer
review panel to provide independent reviews of
CMAQ's science. CM AS has a strong user support
system via the Internet, training classes, and well-
attended annual meetings. Partners in CM AS include
tribal organizations, the states, industry, Regional
Planning Organizations (RPOs), and EPA Regional
Offices. More info is available at www.cmascenter.ora.

Primary Organic Particulate Matter

Estimating the Impact of Wildland Fires

EPA is teaming with NASA, U.S. Forest Service, EPA Region X,
and NOAA to integrate research on the impact of wildland fires to
air quality, both for real-time forecasts and regulatory decision-
making. An example of this interaction has been work to
incorporate key components from the BlueSky forecast model for
more realistic estimates of wildland fire emissions in the CMAQ
modeling system.

The BlueSky emissions
module is used to estimate fuel
consumption and emissions
based on the fire size and
location. This plot shows
hourly concentrations of
organic matter predicted by
CMAQ for May 24, 2001. The
plume from the Mai lory Swamp
fire in northern Florida is
clearly visible.

r EPA-NOAA Partnership on Air Quality

NOAA's Atmospheric Sciences Modeling
Division is celebrating its 50th year as a
governmental unit dedicated to air quality
modeling research and applications. EPA
and NOAA work collaboratively as a group of
scientists dedicated to enhancing the
research that supports CMAQ and ensuring
its successful application to regulatory air
quality assessments. The group includes
approximately 50 NOAA and EPA scientists
stationed in EPA's Atmospheric Modeling
Division of the National Exposure Research
Laboratory in Research Triangle Park, NC.

CMAQ Background ^

Since its inception in the mid-1980s, the
Community Multiscale Air Quality
(CMAQ) modeling system has evolved
into a one-atmosphere model, covering
a variety of pollutants over a range of
time and space scales. CMAQ owes its
success to the many partners who
contribute to its research and
application. Further info on CMAQ can
\be found at www.epa.aov/asmdnerl. J

DOE/Sandia,

f Sandia Optimizes CMAQ Performance

Via an EPA/DOE Interagency Agreement,
Sandia worked with EPA and NOAA
scientists to produce a 15-fold speed-up in
CMAQ's performance. With an optimized
version of CMAQ, annual simulations of
ozone can be completed for the entire nation
within a week.

This graph shows the
optimization achieved,
w/ CMAQ for a 24-hr |
simulation on a Linux=

w/o optimization

parallel cluster.

Disclaimer: The research presented here was performed under the
Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce's
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and under
agreement number DW13921548. This work represents a contribution to
the NOAA Air Quality Program. Although it has been reviewed by EPA
and NOAA and approved for publication, it does not necessarily reflect
their policies or views.	!

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