Abstract
Though the Lower Fraser Valley (LFV) has generally good air quality (AQ), ozone episodes may occur under a narrow set of synoptic and mesoscale conditions. These conditions give rise to complex flow systems, which further complicate the chemical sensitivity of the airshed. In this study, we use the MLDP0 dispersion model to investigate source-receptor relationships between NOx emissions and receptor locations (AQ stations) subject to high ozone concentrations in the NOx-limited portion of the valley.
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References
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Acknowledgments
This project was contracted and funded by Metro Vancouver. The authors would like to thank the members of the Regional Ground-Level Ozone Strategy Steering Committee (RGLOSSC) for their involvement. The modelling and analysis support from Nils Ek, Jean-Philippe Gauthier, and Alain Malo of the Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC) is greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Environment Canada or Metro Vancouver.
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Questioner: Jaakko Kukkonen
Q: How did you evaluate the uncertainties of your modelling system in the course of the selected episodes? e.g. you could possibly use a different meteorological model and/or a different transport model to illustrate the variability of results in terms of the selected models.
A: First, we performed a brief evaluation of the meteorological fields and emission inventory compared to observed timeseries and recorded inventory totals, respectively. Results were satisfactory. However, our focus was not to explain NOx transport or reconstruct pollutant timeseries during specific episodes, but to develop a generalized understanding of SR relationships in the LFV. For this reason, all hourly particle concentration fields are an average of 20 cases within the same CR.
Questioner: Paul Makar
Q: What about recirculation events? Do you plan to check for these in the future?
A: Lagrangian particles may recirculate within the 12Â h of simulation time, which would affect SRS coefficients (though particle age is not accounted for). However, day-to-day carryover could not be accounted for, as extending the simulation time beyond 12Â h is less representative of the lifetime of NOx in a polluted airmass. The process of recirculation was investigated in a trajectory modelling study (see Seagram 2014), but it would be interesting to determine the magnitude of possible impacts of precursor recirculation on ozone formation using a photochemical model. The results from this study may help inform such targeted modelling exercises.
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Seagram, A.F., Ainslie, B., Vingarzan, R. (2016). A Source-Receptor Analysis of NOx Emissions in the Lower Fraser Valley, B. C.. In: Steyn, D., Chaumerliac, N. (eds) Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXIV. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24478-5_46
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24478-5_46
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