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Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering >> 2018, Volume 12, Issue 1 doi: 10.1007/s11783-018-1010-6

Development and case study of a new-generationmodel-VAT for analyzing the boundary conditions influence on atmosphericmercury simulation

. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratoryof Atmospheric Environment and Pollution Control, College of Environmentand Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou HigherEducation Mega Center, Guangzhou 510006, China.. State Key Joint Laboratory of EnvironmentSimulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, TsinghuaUniversity, Beijing 100084, China.. USEPA/Office of Air Quality Planning& Standards, RTP, NC 27711, USA.. Guangzhou Urban Environmental CloudInformation Technology R&D Co. Ltd, Guangzhou 510006, China.. Department of Civil Engineering, LamarUniversity, Beaumont, TX 77710-0024, USA.. Guangzhou Environmental MonitoringCenter Station, Guangzhou 510030, China.. Institute for the Environment, TheUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27517,USA

Available online: 2017-12-18

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Abstract

Atmospheric models are essential tools to study the behaviorof air pollutants. To interpret the complicated atmospheric modelsimulations, a new-generation Model Visualization and Analysis Tool(Model-VAT) has been developed for scientists to analyze the modeldata and visualize the simulation results. The Model-VAT incorporatesanalytic functions of conventional tools and enhanced capabilitiesin flexibly accessing, analyzing, and comparing simulated resultsfrom multi-scale models with different map projections and grid resolutions.The performance of the Model-VAT is demonstrated by a case study ofinvestigating the influence of boundary conditions (BCs) on the ambientHg formation and transport simulated by the CMAQ model over the PearlRiver Delta (PRD) region. The alternative BC options are taken from(1) default time-independent profiles, (2) outputs from a CMAQ simulationof a larger nesting domain, and (3) concentration files from GEOS-Chem(re-gridded and re-projected using the Model-VAT). The three BC inputsand simulated ambient concentrations and deposition were comparedusing the Model-VAT. The results show that the model simulations basedon the static BCs (default profile) underestimates the Hg concentrationsby ~6.5%, dry depositions by ~9.4%, and wet depositions by ~43.2%compared to those of the model-derived (e.g. GEOS-Chem or nestingCMAQ) BCs. This study highlights the importance of model nesting approachand demonstrates that the innovative functions of Model-VAT enhancesthe efficiency of analyzing and comparing the model results from variousatmospheric model simulations.

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