Objective

The goal of this three-year project is to utilize the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model, an urban modeling system, in-situ and remote-sensing data, and the Variational Lidar Assimilation System (VLAS) to improve forecasts of pollutant transport and diffusion in coastal urban areas.

Description

The accuracy of transport and diffusion (T&D) model predictions is fundamentally limited by the quality of the meteorological information used to drive T&D models. While collaborating with the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), we use VLAS and WRF for T&D validation efforts using meteorological and SF6 observations from an atmospheric dispersion study (JU2003). The VLAS and WRF models assimilated high-resolution Doppler lidar data and other meteorological data, and produced high-resolution 3-D wind and temperature analyses. This study is conducted to advance our knowledge about the movement of contaminants in and around cities, and into and within building interiors.  

The second objective is to use the recent, remotely sensed, land-surface data to improve the community Weather Research and Forecast (WRF)/urban coupled mesoscale modeling system. WRF provides meteorological forecasts for T&D models. Therefore, improving the WRF/urban modeling system will improve the accuracy of Joint Effects Model T&D predictions for metropolitan areas in coastal zones.