A comprehensive performance evaluation of the air quality model BOLCHEM to reproduce the ozone concentrations over Italy

Abstract A comprehensive model evaluation has been conducted for BOLCHEM over the whole of Italy during four periods favorable to ozone photochemistry: 1–3 June, 1–4 July, 5–7 August and 20–24 January during the year 1999. Two photochemical mechanisms, SAPRC90 and CB-IV, have been employed to simulate the evolution of ozone, taking into account the Italian and European inventories and maritime emissions. The comparison of simulated and measured ozone concentrations demonstrates that the model is able to forecast well the daily variation of ozone with both mechanisms, in particular during the summer, when the ozone photochemistry is more active. The discrepancies between the ozone predicted with the SAPRC90 and CB-IV mechanisms are similar to those previously reported in the literature: SAPRC90 leading to higher ozone concentrations than CB-IV due to the differences in their representation of VOC mixture. However, for both photochemical mechanisms, the model skill scores are good, proving the reliability of the model for regional scale applications.

[1]  B. Hicks,et al.  A preliminary multiple resistance routine for deriving dry deposition velocities from measured quantities , 1987 .

[2]  M. C. Dodge,et al.  A photochemical kinetics mechanism for urban and regional scale computer modeling , 1989 .

[3]  A. Clappier,et al.  The chemical mechanism generation programme CHEMATA—Part 2: Comparison of four chemical mechanisms for mesoscale calculation of atmospheric pollution , 2005 .

[4]  Christian Seigneur,et al.  A comprehensive performance evaluation of MM5-CMAQ for the Summer 1999 Southern Oxidants Study episode—Part I: Evaluation protocols, databases, and meteorological predictions , 2006 .

[5]  I. Isaksen,et al.  Photochemical modelling in the Po basin with focus on formaldehyde and ozone , 2006 .

[6]  Stefan Reis,et al.  Emissions of air pollutants : measurements, calculations and uncertainties , 2004 .

[7]  S. Galmarini,et al.  Simulation of the Circulation and Related Photochemical Ozone Dispersion in the Po Plains (Northern Italy). Comparison with the Observations of a Measuring Campaign. , 2002 .

[8]  M. Wesely.  Parameterization of surface resistances to gaseous dry deposition in regional-scale numerical models , 1989 .

[9]  Nikolaos Nikiforakis,et al.  A Three-Dimensional, Adaptive, Godunov-Type Model for Global Atmospheric Flows , 2003 .

[10]  Jaroslav Fiala,et al.  Air pollution by ozone in Europe in summer 2003 , 2003 .

[11]  E. Mantilla,et al.  Using measured and modeled indicators to assess ozone-NOx-VOC sensitivity in a western Mediterranean coastal environment , 2005 .

[12]  Fabio Monforti,et al.  THOSCANE: a tool to detail CORINAIR emission inventories , 2005, Environ. Model. Softw..

[13]  Sebnem Andreani-Aksoyoglu,et al.  Model study with UAM-V in the Milan area (I) during PIPAPO: simulations with changed emissions compared to ground and airborne measurements , 2003 .

[14]  Donald Dabdub,et al.  Comparison of photochemical mechanisms for air quality modeling , 2003 .

[15]  R. Vautard,et al.  Simulation of ozone during the August 2003 heat wave and emission control scenarios , 2005 .

[16]  R. Vautard,et al.  CityDelta: A model intercomparison study to explore the impact of emission reductions in European cities in 2010 , 2007 .

[17]  Nicolas Moussiopoulos,et al.  Wind flow and photochemical air pollution in Thessaloniki, Greece. Part II: Statistical evaluation of European Zooming Model's simulation results , 2006, Environ. Model. Softw..

[18]  J. Dommen,et al.  Effects of various meteorological conditions and spatial emissionresolutions on the ozone concentration and ROG/NO x limitationin the Milan area (I) , 2003 .

[19]  Global simulation of tropospheric O3-NOx-hydrocarbon chemistry: 1. Model formulation , 1998 .

[20]  C. Willmott.  ON THE VALIDATION OF MODELS , 1981 .

[21]  A. Buzzi,et al.  A case‐study of an orographic cyclone south of the Alps during the MAP SOP , 2003 .

[22]  Harvey E. Jeffries,et al.  A comparison of two photochemical reaction mechanisms using mass balance and process analysis , 1994 .

[23]  Marialuisa Volta,et al.  Seasonal modelling assessment of ozone sensitivity to precursors in northern Italy , 2005 .

[24]  W. Carter.  A detailed mechanism for the gas-phase atmospheric reactions of organic compounds , 1990 .

[25]  S. Zilitinkevich,et al.  On the determination of the height of the Ekman boundary layer , 1972 .

[26]  Steven E. Peckham,et al.  Online versus offline air quality modeling on cloud‐resolving scales , 2004 .

[27]  Petra Seibert,et al.  Review and intercomparison of operational methods for the determination of the mixing height , 2000 .

[28]  C. Srinivas,et al.  Sensitivity of mesoscale simulations of land–sea breeze to boundary layer turbulence parameterization , 2007 .

[29]  B. Hicks,et al.  Transfer of SO 2 and other reactive gases across the air-sea interface , 1976 .

[30]  Giovanna Finzi,et al.  Application of a photochemical grid model to milan metropolitan area * * This paper is from the Atmo , 1998 .

[31]  Andrea Buzzi,et al.  Validation of a limited area model in cases of mediterranean cyclogenesis: Surface fields and precipitation scores , 1994 .