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www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/4/2605/2011/
doi:10.5194/gmdd-4-2605-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Development of the high-order decoupled direct method in three dimensions for particulate matter: enabling advanced sensitivity analysis in air quality models
1School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
2School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
3School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
4US Environment Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
Abstract. The high-order decoupled direct method in three dimensions for particular matter (HDDM-3D/PM) has been implemented in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to enable advanced sensitivity analysis. The major effort of this work is to develop high-order DDM sensitivity analysis of ISORROPIA, the inorganic aerosol module of CMAQ. A case-specific approach has been applied, and the sensitivities of activity coefficients and water content are explicitly computed. Stand-alone tests are performed for ISORROPIA by comparing the sensitivities (first- and second-order) computed by HDDM and the brute force (BF) approximations. Similar comparison has also been carried out for CMAQ results simulated using a week-long winter episode for a continental US domain. Second-order sensitivities of aerosol species (e.g., sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium) with respect to domain-wide SO2, NOx, and NH3 emissions show agreement with BF results, yet exhibit less noise in locations where BF results are demonstrably inaccurate. Second-order sensitivity analysis elucidates nonlinear responses of secondary inorganic aerosols to their precursors and competing species that have not yet been well-understood with other approaches. Including second-order sensitivity coefficients in the Taylor series projection of the nitrate concentrations with a 50% reduction in domain-wide NOx emission shows a statistically significant improvement compared to the first-order Taylor series projection.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 2302 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 4 Comments) Final Revised Paper (GMD)
Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Zhang, W., Capps, S. L., Hu, Y., Nenes, A., Napelenok, S. L., and Russell, A. G.: Development of the high-order decoupled direct method in three dimensions for particulate matter: enabling advanced sensitivity analysis in air quality models, Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., 4, 2605-2633, doi:10.5194/gmdd-4-2605-2011, 2011. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
