Identification

Title

Improving NOAA NAQFC PM2.5 predictions with a bias correction approach

Abstract

Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 mu m (PM2.5) is a critical air pollutant with important impacts on human health. It is essential to provide accurate air quality forecasts to alert people to avoid or reduce exposure to high ambient levels of PM2.5. The NOAA National Air Quality Forecasting Capability (NAQFC) provides numerical forecast guidance of surface PM2.5 for the United States. However, the NAQFC forecast guidance for PM2.5 has exhibited substantial seasonal biases, with overpredictions in winter and underpredictions in summer. To reduce these biases, an analog ensemble bias correction approach is being integrated into the NAQFC to improve experimental PM2.5 predictions over the contiguous United States. Bias correction configurations with varying lengths of training periods (i.e., the time period over which searches for weather or air quality scenario analogs are made) and differing ensemble member size are evaluated for July, August, September, and November 2015. The analog bias correction approach yields substantial improvement in hourly time series and diurnal variation patterns of PM2.5 predictions as well as forecast skill scores. However, two prominent issues appear when the analog ensemble bias correction is applied to the NAQFC for operational forecast guidance. First, day-to-day variability is reduced after using bias correction. Second, the analog bias correction method can be limited in improving PM2.5 predictions for extreme events such as Fourth of July Independence Day firework emissions and wildfire smoke events. The use of additional predictors and longer training periods for analog searches is recommended for future studies.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7j9686g

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

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geoscientificInformation

Keywords

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Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

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Temporal reference

Temporal extent

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End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2017-04-01T00:00:00Z

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Conformity

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Copyright 2017 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact