CheMPAS-A

Air quality research requires modeling tools with high spatial and vertical resolution (down to LES scales) that are computationally efficient to be used for air quality research and forecasting application. In addition, these systems need to be compatible with state-of-the art data assimilation tools, specifically the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) and allow for assimilation of the next generation geostationary air quality satellite observations (e.g. TEMPO).  This requires atmospheric composition modeling frameworks that enable spatial resolutions down to ~1 km, can be run in limited area mode, can be used with JEDI, and also allow being driven by offline meteorological fields. 

In the past, NCAR’s air quality model has been WRF-Chem, but development of WRF and WRF-Chem has been outphased in light of availability of MPAS-A and the development of the NCAR next generation System for Integrated Modeling of the Atmosphere (SIMA). However, SIMA does not yet offer the required capabilities and likely will not be doing so until years down the road. Therefore the development of MPAS-A with full chemistry and aerosols - CheMPAS-A - will be needed to cover the gap and allow for the model framework to replace WRF-Chem and add additional capabilities, such as seamless simulations at cloud resolving scales in the context of the global scale. MPAS-A itself already works for JEDI and therefore provides the optimal framework for assimilation of both polar orbiting and geostationary atmospheric composition satellite data.