[1] Measurements obtained during the NASA Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) experiment are used in conjunction with regional modeling analysis to evaluate emission estimates for Asia. A comparison between the modeled values and the observations is one method to evaluate emissions. Based on such analysis it is concluded that the inventory performs well for the light alkanes, CO, ethyne, SO 2 , and NO x . Furthermore, based on model skill in predicting important photochemical species such as O 3 , HCHO, OH, HO 2 , and HNO 3 , it is found that the emissions inventories are of sufficient quality to support preliminary studies of ozone production. These are important finding in light of the fact that emission estimates for many species (such as speciated NMHCs and BC) for this region have only recently been estimated and are highly uncertain. Using a classification of the measurements built upon trajectory analysis, we compare observed species distributions and ratios of species to those modeled and to ratios estimated from the emissions inventory. It is shown that this technique can reconstruct a spatial distribution of propane/benzene that looks remarkably similar to that calculated from the emissions inventory. A major discrepancy between modeled and observed behavior is found in the Yellow Sea, where modeled values are systematically underpredicted. The integrated analysis suggests that this may be related to an underestimation of emissions from the domestic sector. The emission is further tested by comparing observed and measured species ratios in identified megacity plumes. Many of the model derived ratios (e.g., BC/CO, SO x /C 2 H 2 ) fall within $25% of those observed and all fall outside of a factor of 2.5.

[1] The sensitivity of regional air quality model to various lateral and top boundary conditions is studied at 2 scales: a 60 km domain covering the whole USA and a 12 km domain over northeastern USA. Three global models (MOZART-NCAR, MOZART-GFDL and RAQMS) are used to drive the STEM-2K3 regional model with time-varied lateral and top boundary conditions (BCs). The regional simulations with different global BCs are examined using ICARTT aircraft measurements performed in the summer of 2004, and the simulations are shown to be sensitive to the boundary conditions from the global models, especially for relatively long-lived species, like CO and O 3 . Differences in the mean CO concentrations from three different global-model boundary conditions are as large as 40 ppbv, and the effects of the BCs on CO are shown to be important throughout the troposphere, even near surface. Top boundary conditions show strong effect on O 3 predictions above 4 km. Over certain model grids, the model's sensitivity to BCs is found to depend not only on the distance from the domain's top and lateral boundaries, downwind/upwind situation, but also on regional emissions and species properties. The near-surface prediction over polluted area is usually not as sensitive to the variation of BCs, but to the magnitude of their background concentrations. We also test the sensitivity of model to temporal and spatial variations of the BCs by comparing the simulations with time-varied BCs to the corresponding simulations with time-mean and profile BCs. Removing the time variation of BCs leads to a significant bias on the variation prediction and sometime causes the bias in predicted mean values. The effect of model resolution on the BC sensitivity is also studied. Citation: Tang, Y., et al. (2007), Influence of lateral and top boundary conditions on regional air quality prediction: A multiscale study coupling regional and global chemical transport models,

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[1] A comprehensive emission inventory with enhanced spatial and temporal resolution is used to help quantify the contribution from three source categories (fossil, biofuel, and biomass burning) during the NASA TRACE-P experiment. Daily biomass burning emissions are developed to support this analysis. Emissions of 27 species and their ratios, by sector, region, and source category are presented. The emission distributions and chemical composition are further analyzed using various statistical techniques. Using cluster analysis, the 27 chemical species are combined into 8 groups that have similar regional distribution, and 52 regions are assembled into 11 regional groups that have similar chemical composition. These groups are used in Chemical Mass Balance analysis to characterize air masses and to quantify the contribution of the three source categories to the observed species distributions. Five DC8 flights with 16 flight segments associated with outflow events are analyzed. In general, Asian outflow is a complex mixture of biofuel, biomass, and fossil sources.

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