Lu Lab

Model descriptions

Funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) under grant number 100417, we ported the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with Chemistry over New York State (NYS) for i) producing near-real-time air quality forecast, and ii) providing a tool for retro episode analysis and compliance assessment. The system documentation can be found at the lab wiki page

Near-real-time air quality forecast

Daily forecasts from the Wx-AQ system and the IDEA-NYS system, in conjunction with satellite and surface observations over NYS, are displayed in ASRC AQ dashboard.

The Wx-AQ workflow

We established a near-real-time (NRT) workflow for a NYS Wx-AQ system at ASRC’s Kratos cluster. The forecast model is WRF-Chem v4.0 and the analysis (i.e. data assimilation) system is GSI v3.7. This limited-area Wx-AQ system is cycled every 6 hours (at 00z, 06z, 12z, and 18z) and assimilates observations taken from NOAA/NCEP’s Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) data tank and NYSM surface network. Daily forecasts, out to 54 hours, are generated at the 00Z cycle.

The diagram illustrates the workflow for the NRT system:

Daily ozone forecast

Daily ozone forecast out to 54 hours using the Wx-AQ model.

Daily PM forecast

Daily PM2.5 forecast out to 54 hours using the Wx-AQ model.