WRF model set-up analysis for air quality simulations in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires

• Published in: 2021 Congreso Colombiano y Conferencia Internacional de Calidad de Aire y Salud Pública (CASAP) pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Luque, Solange E., Fita, Lluis, Rojas, Andrea L. Pineda
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 03.11.2021
• Subjects: Air quality; Analytical models; Atmospheric modeling; Land surface; Land surface temperature; Model Performance Evaluation; Sensitivity Analysis; Urban areas; Wind speed; WRF
• DOI: 10.1109/CASAP54985.2021.9703379

In this work, a high resolution WRF model is implemented in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires for air quality purposes. Several sensitivity seven-day simulations of two weeks of winter and spring 2012 are performed, considering different combinations of microphysics, planetary boundary layer, surface layer, radiation and urban schemes. Four modelled surface hourly meteorological variables are statistically compared with those observed at six weather stations. Model performance depends on week, site and variable. An aggregated index is used to analyse the relative performance of different configurations. Results show that most schemes exhibit similar index values for wind speed, while configurations including the Noah-MP land surface scheme perform better for wind direction. For surface temperature, the use of urban canopy schemes with BouLac Planetary Boundary Layer scheme improves predictions during the spring week while a configuration with a more complex microphysics scheme has better performance during the winter week. The choice of a land scheme has a greater impact on the water vapor fraction without any improvement with the activation of urban schemes.