Emission processing methodology for the new GEM-MACH model

1
Emission processing methodology for the new
GEM-MACH model

• ABSTRACT
• SMOKE has recently been adapted to provide
  emissions for the new Meteorological Service of
  Canada (MSC) air quality model GEM-MACH. The goal
  of this project is to provide a versatile, robust
  and standard way to generate emissions files for
  MSCs operational air quality model GEM-MACH in
  support of research and air quality forecast
  applications. We give an overview of the
  different challenges encountered in this process
  and of some of the current applications of the
  system.

M. Sassi1, V. Bouchet1, L-P. Crevier1, S.
Ménard1, P. Makar2, M. Moran2, D. Niemi31 Air
Quality Modelling Applications Section,
Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment
Canada 2 Air Quality Modelling and Integration
Research, Science Branch, Environment Canada3
Pollution Data Division, Environment Canada
Corresponding author address Mourad Sassi
ltMourad.Sassi_at_ec.gc.cagt

• GEM-MACH description
• GEM-MACH is a Global Environmental Multiscale
  Model for Air Quality and Chemistry Modeling
• (similar design to WRF-CHEM).
• This new model has an on-line photochemical gas
  chemistry package (based on ADOM II mechanisms)
• and an aerosol capability (based on CAM).
• GEM-MACH has a more detailed chemistry and
  emission packages than CHRONOS, the current AQFM
• Will run daily over North America to provide air
  quality forecasts (ozone and PM) in support of
  the
• Canadian Air Quality Prediction Program.
• The 15 km model grid is 465x348 extends from
  Texas to Nunavut and from Alaska to Newfoundland.
• Biogenic emissions calculations are performed
  inside GEM-MACH with an online version of
  BEIS3.09
• and updated vegetation and emission factors
  databases.

Assignment of Canadian VOC emission
speciation data to different chemical mechanisms
Modifications and Additions to SMOKE Few changes
were required to SMOKE to make the system work
with Environment Canadas new air quality model
GEM-MACH. Input and output file converters had to
be constructed to go to and from the GEM-MACH and
I/O API file formats. A new VOC speciation for
the ADOM II mechanism was constructed and tested
and a PM size disaggregation mechanism was
implemented for use.

• Mappings and assignments were created to the
  following chemical mechanisms
• NAPAP
• ADOM II
• SAPRC99
• RADM
• CB4
• CB5
• AURAMS86

• Through the NPRI, Environment Canada has received
  detailed speciation information for Canadian VOC
  emissions. These emissions are reported at the
  facility or stack levels. However, NPRI reports
  do not contain process information. SMOKE is
  therefore not capable of directly handling such
  data as it expects (process-based) SCC codes in
  order to do its own speciation.
• Direct linking of VOC emissions to the species
  mapping in the different mechanisms was performed
  by linking the CAS or SAROAD codes with the
  available mapping files.

• GEM-MACH Emission Modeling
• A new operational Air Quality Forecast Model
  GEM-MACH is being implemented at MSC. We built a
  modeling platform to produce several sets of
  gridded emissions for Environment Canada needs
• SMOKE ancillary files
• Create spatial surrogate files on native GEM-MACH
  grid (Same grid as GEM meteorological model).
• Set ADOM II as chemical mechanism and define the
  group of species needed by GEM-MACH in the gspro
  file.
• Update the temporal profiles with the most recent
  data available.
• SMOKE processing and QA/QC
• Update the 2005 Canada/US NEI with the latest
  2008 informations.
• Process the emissions. Fourteen monthly sets of
  two daily emissions files were produced to feed
  into the model.
• Provide the appropriate grid tools for mapping
  point sources emissions to specific grid cells.
• Perform tests and evaluations of the new datasets.

• Creation of a VOC speciation
• The following procedure was developed for the
  binning of the detailed speciation to the NAPAP
  and ADOM II mechanisms and was used to create the
  ADOM II speciation files profiles for SMOKE.
• If the substance was assigned to multiple bins
  the mass was multiplied by
• the mass fraction for the particular bin (eg
  Alkane / Aromatic Mix).
• The masses were summed to the appropriate NAPAP
  ADOM II bin.
• The mass of the substance was converted to moles
  using the molecular
• weight
• The moles of the substance were added to the
  NAPAP bin and multiplied by the NAPAP
  reactivity weighting and added to the ADOM II bin.

Major point sources, SO2 emissions on GEM-MACH
continental domain
Conversion of SMOKE output to GEM-MACH
format GEM-MACH reads 2D emissions input data in
the so-called RPN Standard File format. Elevated
point sources are read in lat/long format and the
plume rise calculation is done within the model.

• Two file converters were built to convert
• the SMOKE output to the right format
• one to go from I/O API to RPN E-GRID format
• 2. one to take the SMOKE ASCII elevated point
  source file and convert it to
• RPN Y-GRID format (major points)
• RPN E-GRID format (minor points)

Gridded NO emissions on GEM-MACH continental
domain
Experimental ozone output over North America.
(June 9th 2007)
Creation of SMOKE PM speciation input files
The disaggregation of the PM emissions is done
for three source streams as function of size and
composition
Plan for the near future

• Future developments
• Include forest fire emissions
• Include ocean-going vessels emissions
• Apply growth factors for 2008
• Add real-time generation of mobile emissions to
  GEM-MACH using meteorological data

To accomplish these tasks, MIMS spatial allocator
has been adapted to handle the GEM
variable-resolution grid on a rotated lat/lon
projection. This required the use of the E-GRID
projection capacity of the MIMS Spatial
Allocator. We developed several utilities to
facilitate this work.