WRF-Chem is the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with Chemistry. The model simulates the emission, transport, mixing, and chemical transformation of trace gases and aerosols simultaneously with the meteorology. The model is used for investigation of regional-scale air quality, field program analysis, and cloud-scale interactions between clouds and chemistry.

The development of WRF-Chem is a collaborative effort among the community. NOAA/ESRL scientists are the leaders and caretakers of the code. The Official WRF-Chem web page is located at the NOAA web site. Our model development is closely linked with both NOAA/ESRL and DOE/PNNL efforts. Description of PNNL WRF-Chem model development is located at the PNNL web site as well as the PNNL Aerosol Modeling Testbed.

NEW (November 2018)

The new EPA_ANTHRO_EMIS tool allows users to create WRF-Chem compatible hourly anthropogenic emission input files from Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel (SMOKE) Modeling System netcdf output.  See TOOLS tab for more information. 

Please see the Best Practices 2015 Tutorial Presentation that includes example namelists for running with MOZCART and MOZART-MOSAIC.

Submit questions regarding the tools and developments from our group to the WRF-Chem Discussion Forum.
For all other requests we refer to the WRF Forum.

WRF-Chem / DART

WRF-Chem/DART is being used for: (i) development of efficient satellite retrieval data assimilation methods (compact phase space retrievals); (ii) independent and joint assimilation of atmospheric composition and meteorological observations, and (iii) estimating/constraining emission with the state augmentation methods. WRF-Chem/DART is being applied to two field campaigns, FRAPPE and KORUS-AQ, for atmospheric composition forecasting and data assimilation research. WRF-Chem/DART is also being applied to the MarcoPolo - Panda project for regional air quality forecasting in China.

Activities

• Analysis
  • Formation of organic aerosols, learn more
  • Aqueous-phase formation of secondary organic aerosols
  • Air quality in China, learn more
  • Wet scavenging of trace gases and aerosols in deep convection, learn more
  • Formation of ozone in upper tropospheric convective outflow
  • Production of nitrogen oxides from lightning
• Chemistry-Climate Studies
  • North America, learn more
  • South Asia, learn more
• Model Intercomparisons, AQMEII
• Field Project Forecasting
  • Front Range Air Pollution and Photochemistry Éxperiment (FRAPPÉ), forecasts in the field catalog
  • Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS)
  • Nitrogen, Oxidants, Mercury and Aerosol Distributions, Sources and Sinks (NOMADSS)
  • Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3), forecasts in the field catalog
  • Bio-hydro-atmosphere interactions of Energy, Aerosols, Carbon, H2O, Organics & Nitrogen (BEACHON)