Emission Inventories
Currently, the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research (LAR) has been working with several air quality modeling projects. Raw emission inventory files under each project are available on this site. The Sparse Matrix Operator Kernal Emissionions (SMOKE) can be used to convert these emission inventory data into formatted emission files required by Air Quality Models (AQMs). The SMOKE is available for download at the Carolina Environmental Program (CEP) website. The following is the list of projects under which emission files are available:

NWRMC CMAQ Demonstration Project
The Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system was selected to study ozone and aerosol concentrations and the visibility impacts of the aerosol concentrations in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). This was undertaken as part of the Northwest Regional Modeling Center (NWRMC) CMAQ demonstration project to demonstrate the applicability of CMAQ to the Pacific Northwest and to establish a virtual modeling center accessible to all Northwest air quality stakeholders. The domain encompasses the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and a large portion of southwestern Canada. Two emission inventories (EI) were developed for this project for the July 1-15, 1996 period. Anthropogenic emissions for the first EI were based upon the National Emission Trend 1996 (NET96) database, and biogenic emissions were obtained from the BEIS2 biogenic emissions model. The NET96 data were at a 36 km resolution and required interpolation to the 12 km PNW domain. Anthropogenic emissions for the second EI were developed as a “ground up” approach by the NWRMC, and biogenic emissions were obtained from the GLOBEIS biogenic emissions model. Both sources of data were available at a 12 km, or finer, resolution. The SMOKE input files can be downloaded from here.

AIRPACT2 Air Quality Forecast System
The original AIRPACT air-quality forecasting system (AIRPACT-1) was developed in 2000-2001 with the objectives of 1) providing air-quality managers in the Puget Sound region with timely forecasts of air pollution episodes and 2) allowing for the potential notification of sensitive populations [Vaughan et al. 2004]. AIRPACT-1, which became operational in May 2001, utilized daily MM5 forecasts, for a 4-km grid-spacing domain based on a 00Z initialization. Emissions processing used area, mobile, and point source emissions from a July 1996 base-case spanning four days and GLOBEIS-derived biogenic emissions as a basis. The functional dependence of mobile emissions upon temperature was developed by the Washington State Department of Ecology using the Mobile5b model. Using these results, AIRPACT-1 generated daily mobile emissions by making adjustments using MM5-predicted temperatures. Similarly, GLOBEIS was used to generate a basic emissions map for the vegetation of the domain for a standard temperature and UV-flux. Daily biogenic emissions were then generated using MM5-derived temperature and UV-flux (using down-welling short wave radiation as a proxy).

The original system was updated in 2003 to create AIRPACT-2. A primary reason for the system expansion and modification is the growing interest in toxic air pollutant species such as are being measured in the Urban Air Toxics measurement program in Seattle. Air-toxics chemical and particulate species have been added as tracers to provide for comparisons against current measurement programs for air-toxic species. The specific air toxics include gaseous species treated with first order reactions to account for removal as well as several PM2.5 tracers: formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, 1,3 butadiene, benzene, perchloroethylene, diesel PM2.5, wood smoke PM2.5, total PM2.5, a PAH tracer, and Phenanthrene.

An expanded 4-km domain (Figure 2) ranges from the environs of Vancouver, British Columbia, in the north and Salem, OR, in the south, and from the Pacific coast in the west to beyond the crests of the Cascades in the east. A SMOKE-based emissions generation sub-system replaces the original (highly idiosyncratic) implementation. SMOKE is the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel for Emissions processing system that is part of the Models-3 suite. This includes changing from using GLOBEIS in AIRPACT-1 to using BEIS3 for biogenic emissions in AIRPACT-2. The SMOKE input files are available here.

Columbia Gorge Visibility Modeling Project (Source Footprint)
In response to the recommendation of the Columbia River Gorge Air Quality Project Technical Team an initial assessment of potential source regions which may impact the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, was conducted by Washington State University (WSU). The assessment involved the application of a footprint modeling system, previously developed by WSU, to a selection of ten sample days in which high aerosol loadings were observed at both the Wishram and Mt. Zion IMPROVE sites (O'Neill, 2002). The CALPUFF modeling system was used to determine the 24-hr fractional source contribution for areas upwind of each monitoring site. In addition, the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to examine aerosol concentration patterns within the region and at the two sites for a two-day period in July, 1998. Emission Inventory (EI) files for 1996 were provided by the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for use in this study. Emissions were not adjusted to reflect 1997 values. All EI files were processed using the SMOKE emissions processor, and were allocated hourly by activity profiles. For example, weekday and weekend days use different allocation methods for different source categories so emissions will vary depending on the time of day and day of the week. The SMOKE input files from these project can be downloaded from here.

PNW2001 CMAQ Evaluation
To understand PM and gaseous pollution in this region, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) and others conducted the Pacific Northwest 2001 (PNW2001) campaign in August 2001. This was done in concert with Pacific 2001, a Canadian study of pollution in the Lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia and northwest Washington. PNW2001 provides extensive airborne and ground-based measurements of air pollutants, gaseous precursors, and meteorological variables. It is the most comprehensive and current air quality campaign for this region. CMAQ simulations were performed using 4 km gridded domains for August 20, 26, and 27, the days when the most intensive observations were conducted. The states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho as well as Environment Canada provided a ground-up emissions database for this study.

CMAQ Portland/Vancouver Ozone SIP Project
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), Southwest Clean Air Agency (SWCAA), and Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE) have agreed to use photochemical modeling to help assess the status of the Portland/Vancouver airshed with respect to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for tropospheric ozone. This will be done to support the next ozone SIP submittals for the Portland/Vancouver area. This protocol details the procedures ODEQ, SWCAA, and WDOE will use to model ozone in the Portland/Vancouver area using an approved photochemical model. The modeling performed in this work will incorporate previously un-modeled episodes selected to represent the most prevalent meteorological conditions associated with the formation of unhealthy levels of ozone in the Portland/Vancouver area. The MM5/SMOKE/CMAQ modeling system will be used for this analysis. The system will be applied to ozone episodes that occurred during July 1998 and July 1997. The modeling emission inventory (EI) is composed of points, area, on-road mobile, nonroad mobile, and biogenic emissions. The modeling inventory being developed for this work will contain data from several sources. Day and hour-specific inventories will be developed as appropriate to account for temperature and activity variation. An emission inventory preparation plan will be documented and will be submitted in conjunction with this protocol. Currently available emission files can be found here.

Portland Ozone Precursor Project
To assist and refine currrent guidelines, this sensitivity study is a refined analysis of new facility impacts using the MM5/MCIP/CMAQ modeling system as previously applied to the July 11–14, 1996 episode. This study examines the impact upon ozone concentrations of a hypothetical point source located at different distances upwind of the Portland area using different VOC and NOx emissions. The emission inventory includes point source, area source, mobile source, and biogenic source emissions. Area source, mobile source, and biogenic source emissions were obtained from the previous July 11–14, 1996, study (O'Neill, 2002) using the data compiled by Washington State Department of Ecology. The SMOKE processor was applied to process the point source emissions based on the NWRMC emission inventory (O'Neill, 2002) as well as merge all anthropogenic emissions and biogenic emissions into a CMAQ-ready format. The base hypothetical point source (case 1) was based on a 300 MW gas turbine with 70 tons/yr VOC, 220 tons/yr NOx, and 224 tons/yr CO emissions. For most of the sensitivity runs CO emissions were kept constant, with varying VOC and NOx emissions were applied with 100%, 200%, and 400% of the base hypothetical source emissions. For a few runs at site1, varying CO emissions were also applied to compare with the ones having constant CO emissions. The raw emission files are available for download.