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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1208
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1208
08 Nov 2022
 | 08 Nov 2022

Coupled mesoscale-LES modeling of air quality in a polluted city using WRF-LES-Chem

Yuting Wang, Yong-Feng Ma, Domingo Muñoz-Esparza, Jianing Dai, Cathy W. Y. Li, Pablo Lichtig, Roy C. W. Tsang, Chun-Ho Liu, Tao Wang, and Guy P. Brasseur

Abstract. To perform realistic high-resolution air quality modeling in a polluted urban area, the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model is used with an embedded large-eddy simulation (LES) module and with online chemistry. As an illustration, a numerical experiment is conducted in the megacity Hong Kong, which is characterized by multi-type pollution sources as well as complex topography. The multi-resolution simulations from mesoscale to LES scales are evaluated by comparing to ozone sounding profiles and surface observations. The comparisons show that both mesoscale and LES simulations reproduce well the mean concentrations of the chemical species and their diurnal variations at the background stations. However, the mesoscale simulations largely underestimate the NOX concentrations and overestimate O3 at the roadside stations due to the coarse representation of the traffic emissions. The LES simulations improve the agreement with the measurements near the road traffic, and the LES with the highest spatial resolution (33.3 m) provides the best results. The LES simulations show more detailed structures in the spatial distributions of chemical species than the mesoscale simulations, highlighting the capability of LES to resolve high-resolution photochemical transformations in urban areas. Compared to the mesoscale model results, the LES simulations show similar evolutions in the profiles of the chemical species as a function of the boundary layer development over a diurnal cycle.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

30 May 2023
Coupled mesoscale–microscale modeling of air quality in a polluted city using WRF-LES-Chem
Yuting Wang, Yong-Feng Ma, Domingo Muñoz-Esparza, Jianing Dai, Cathy Wing Yi Li, Pablo Lichtig, Roy Chun-Wang Tsang, Chun-Ho Liu, Tao Wang, and Guy Pierre Brasseur
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5905–5927, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5905-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5905-2023, 2023
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Short summary
Air quality in urban areas is difficult to simulate in coarse resolution models. This work...
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