Characteristics of New CMAQ Deposition Series of 2002 to 2011 for Critical Loads
Robin Dennis1, Kristen Foley2 and Jesse Bash3
A new CMAQ time series from 2002 to 2011 of annual deposition that incorporates bi-directional ammonia deposition is now available. The 12 km grid simulations have been post processed with a PRISM-based precipitation correction and a bias adjustment based on NADP data for the full CONUS domain. Several analyses of the new annual CMAQ outputs are presented to provide a sense of the deposition series. Temporal trends and inter-annual variability in total precipitation and wet deposition of NO3, NH4 and SO4 across 5 major regions of the country (Northeast, Southeast, Great Lakes, intermountain West, and Pacific) are compared to NADP measurements for raw CMAQ outputs and fully adjusted CMAQ outputs. The regional RMSE error is also presented. Trends of NADP observations and raw CMAQ output are very comparable for the eastern half of the CONUS for NO3, NH4, and SO4 wet deposition. There is an under prediction in raw CMAQ output across the intermountain West that is least for SO4, presumably due to missing emissions. In the West for all three species there is a slightly greater decrease in raw CMAQ output from 2006/2008 onward compared to observations, suggesting something systematic. For the Pacific states there is a slightly greater trend downward in raw CMAQ output than observed for NO3 and SO4 with a significant over-prediction offset for SO4. For the eastern half of the CONUS the adjustments to the wet deposition are small, the order of 10-20% on average, but for the intermountain West the adjustments are significant. These will be illustrated by regional time series and spatial maps of the adjustments. Finally biases in ambient concentrations of total nitrate, SO2 and SO4 will be summarized for the 5 major regions using CASTNet and other ambient data. Inter-annual variability and systematic behavior of the biases will be noted.
1US EPA, dennis.robin@epa.gov 2US EPA, foley.kristen@epa.gov 3US EPA, bash.jesse@epa.gov