Title: Improving WRF representation of coastal, marine, and residual boundary layers and quantifying the effects on ozone prediction
Institution(s) Represented: Univ. of Houston (Wang and Flynn)
Lead PI: Yuxuan Wang
AQRP Project Manager: Elena McDonald-Buller
TCEQ Project Liaison: Gabriel Lee
Abstract
This AQRP project continues our efforts of modeling the 2021-2023 offshore field campaign data in the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area, with a focus on the evaluation and improvement of the meteorological model representation of coastal, marine, and residual boundary layers. The models to be investigated are the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx), the state’s regulatory photochemical model. The field campaigns include the Tracking Aerosol Convection ExpeRiment-Air Quality (TRACER-AQ) studies during July – October 2021 (TAQ1) and April – October 2022 (TAQ2) and the 2023 Mobile and Offshore Air Quality Monitoring Project during May-Oct 2023. They collected unprecedently rich observations of meteorological factors and atmospheric composition including planetary boundary layer (PBL) and ozone (O3) over diverse offshore locations, such as the Houston Ship Channel, Galveston Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico. Utilizing these observations to evaluate and improve models, the project will focus on the following primary science questions:
- How well does mesoscale meteorological and photochemical grid modeling replicate coastal/maritime boundary layers observations from the 2021-2023 offshore observations?
- How sensitive is WRF prediction of coastal/maritime boundary layers to model parameters? To what extent do the 2021-2023 offshore observations constrain those parameters?
- How will the simulation of residual layer ozone be improved by explicitly parameterizing the entrainment of free tropospheric ozone into the residual layer?
- What are the effects of improved PBL and residual layer (RL) simulation on offshore ozone prediction and source attribution in CAMx?
Perturbed physics ensembles (PPEs) will be conducted to the WRF model to explore parameter uncertainties and identify parameter combinations that yield simulations most consistent with observations. As boundary layer dynamics are crucial for the diffusion, accumulation, and deposition of ozone and its precursors, the project will improve our predictability of ozone in the HGB and better understand the sources of high offshore O3 that may relate to ozone exceedances.
The project specifically targets the AQRP Priority Research Priorities FY2024-2025: Photochemical air quality models concerning model improvements to WRF PBL schemes, and TRACER-AQ and over-water measurements concerning additional analyses of those campaign data.
Workplan: PENDING UPDATE
Technical Reports: PENDING UPDATE
QAPP: PENDING UPDATE
