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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres

 

Keywords

  • Mercury
  • modeling
  • evaluation

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution: urban and regional
  • Computational Geophysics: Modeling
  • Computational Geophysics: Model verification and validation
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Geochemical cycles
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: composition and chemistry
Abstract
Cited By (0)
 

Abstract

The North American Mercury Model Intercomparison Study (NAMMIS): Study description and model-to-model comparisons

O. Russell Bullock Jr.

National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

Dwight Atkinson

Office of Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA

Thomas Braverman

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

Kevin Civerolo

Division of Air Resources, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, New York, USA

Ashu Dastoor

Air Quality Research Division, Environment Canada, Dorval, Quebec, Canada

Didier Davignon

Air Quality Research Division, Environment Canada, Dorval, Quebec, Canada

Jia-Yeong Ku

Division of Air Resources, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, New York, USA

Kristen Lohman

Air Quality Division, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., San Ramon, California, USA

Thomas C. Myers

ICF International, San Rafael, California, USA

Rokjin J. Park

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

Christian Seigneur

Air Quality Division, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., San Ramon, California, USA

Noelle E. Selin

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Gopal Sistla

Division of Air Resources, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, New York, USA

Krish Vijayaraghavan

Air Quality Division, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., San Ramon, California, USA

An atmospheric mercury model intercomparison study has been conducted to compare three regional-scale atmospheric mercury models, CMAQ, REMSAD, and TEAM, in a tightly constrained testing environment with a focus on North America. Each of these models used the same horizontal modeling grid, pollutant emission information, modeled meteorology, and boundary conditions to the greatest extent practical. Three global-scale atmospheric mercury models were applied to define three separate initial condition and boundary condition (IC/BC) data sets for elemental mercury, reactive gaseous mercury, and particulate mercury air concentrations for use by the regional-scale models. The monthly average boundary concentrations of some mercury species simulated by the global models were found to vary by more than a factor of 10, especially at high altitudes. CMAQ, REMSAD, and TEAM were each applied three times, once for each IC/BC data set, to simulate atmospheric mercury transport and deposition during 2001. This paper describes the study design and shows qualitative model-to-model comparisons of simulation results on an annual basis. The air concentration patterns for mercury simulated by the regional-scale models showed significant differences even when the same IC/BC data set was used. Simulated wet deposition of mercury was strongly influenced by the shared precipitation data, but differences of over 50% were still apparent. Simulated dry deposition of mercury was found to vary between the regional-scale models by nearly a factor of 10 in some locations. Further analysis is underway to perform statistical comparisons of simulated and observed mercury wet deposition using weekly and annual sample integration periods.

Received 8 January 2008; accepted 18 June 2008; published 9 September 2008.

Citation: Bullock, O. R., et al. (2008), The North American Mercury Model Intercomparison Study (NAMMIS): Study description and model-to-model comparisons, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D17310, doi:10.1029/2008JD009803.

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