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Modeling aerosol processes at the local scale

Lazaridis Michalis, Isukapalli , S. K, Georgopoulos, P. G

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Summary

This work presents an approach for modeling photochemical gaseous and aerosol phase processes in subgrid plumes from major localized (e.g. point) sources (plume-in-grid modeling), thus improving the ability to quantify the relationship between emission source activity and ambient air quality. This approach employs the Reactive Plume Model (RPM-AERO) which extends the regulatory model RPM-IV by incorporating aerosol processes and heterogeneous chemistry. The physics and chemistry of elemental carbon, organic carbon, sulfate, sodium, chloride and crustal material of aerosols are treated and attributed to the PM size distribution. A modified version of the Carbon Bond IV chemical mechanism is included to model the formation of organic aerosol, and the inorganic multicomponent atmospheric aerosol equilibrium model, SEQUILIB is used for calculating the amounts of inorganic species in particulate matter. Aerosol dynamics modeled include mechanisms of nucleation, condensation and gas/particle partitioning of organic matter. An integrated trajectory-in-grid modeling system, UAM/RPM-AERO, is under continuing development for extracting boundary and initial conditions from the mesoscale photochemical/aerosol model UAM-AERO. The RPM-AERO is applied here to case studies involving emissions from point sources to study sulfate particle formation in plumes. Model calculations show that homogeneous nucleation is an efficient process for new particle formation in plumes, in agreement with previous field studies and theoretical predictions

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