Scientific Theme: Advanced Modeling and Observing Systems

Scientific Theme: Regional Processes
MILESTONE GMD06.2:
As part of the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, deploy a
mobile measurement facility to the Murg Valley in Heselbach, Germany. The instrument package
measures aerosol radiative, hygroscopic and cloud-forming properties.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR GMD06.2:
The Aerosol Observing System was deployed to the Murg Valley in Germany in March of 2007. All instruments
have operated well, and data have been archived in both the NOAA ESRL archive and the Department of Energy
Atmospheric Radiation Program archive (http://www.arm.gov). Despite being a rural region, the aerosol of the Black
Forest region in Germany is relatively polluted with a high concentration of absorbing aerosol. In August 2007, a
comparison of the NOAA aerosol scattering coefficient as a function of relative humidity will take place with the
instruments from the Paul Scherrer Institute of Switzerland. The next deployment of this system will be to the Tai
Lake Region south of Shanghai, China.
GSD02: Regional Air Quality Prediction
GOAL:
Design and evaluate new approaches for improving air-quality prediction.
MILESTONE GSD02.1:
In collaboration with national and international scientists, implement generalized tools such as the
Kinetic PreProcessor (KPP) into the next version of the fully coupled Weather Research and
Forecasting Chemistry (WRF/Chem) model.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR GSD02.1:
In collaboration with the Max Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany, KPP was included in WRF/Chem in July 2006. It
was improved further in May and June of 2007. KPP is now a part of WRFV2.2/Chem, which was officially
released in March of 2007. Tutorial notes where prepared for WRF/Chem. These can be found on the web at
http://ruc.fsl.noaa.gov/wrf/WG11/2007_wrf_wksp.htm.
MILESTONE GSD02.2:
Perform real-time weather/air-quality forecasts with WRF/Chem during the Houston 2006 field
experiment.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR GSD02.2:
WRF/Chem was run in real-time to support the Texas 2006 Air Quality Field experiment. Results were presented in
real-time at the Houston field operations center during August and September. Model results will be used to prepare
publications and evaluate the model in comparison to other models as well as observations.
PSD13: Air Quality
GOAL:
Gather and analyze atmospheric observations to characterize meteorological processes that contribute to highpollution
episodes. Compare these measurements with air-quality forecasting model predictions to assess and
improve research model performance.
MILESTONE PSD13.1:
CIRES investigators will participate in the second Texas Air Quality Experiment (TexAQS-II) by
leading the deployment of six integrated wind profiling observing systems and two flux towers.
The field study will occur in Aug and Sep of 2006.
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