EGU2020-21296
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-21296
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Development of a high-resolution air quality forecasting system, based on WRF-Chem model, for the greater area of Thessaloniki, Greece

Irene Zyrichidou1, Stavros Solomos2, Stylianos Kotsopoulos1, Panagiota Syropoulou1, and Evangelos Kosmidis1
Irene Zyrichidou et al.
  • 1DRAXIS ENVIRONMENTAL SA, 54-56 Themistokli Sofouli St., 54655, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 2Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, National Observatory of Athens, 15236, Athens, Greece

Air pollution models play an important role in science because of their capability to give a description of the air quality problem including an analysis of factors and causes (emission sources, meteorological processes, and physical and chemical changes). Real-time forecast of urban air quality is highly important to the public as advanced information for both air quality and safety assessment. This study presents the development of a regional scale high-resolution modeling system for simulating air quality and forecasting changes in urban pollution levels. The air quality system based on the state-of-the-art Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) has been applied over the greater area of Thessaloniki, Greece. The model performance, in terms of simulated surface major air pollutants’ concentrations, is evaluated using ground-based measurements during the operational implementation period in winter-spring 2020. Our study highlights the importance of resolving local scale atmospheric conditions such as surface wind flow and boundary layer properties for describing the pollutants’ concentrations and the importance of constraining emissions over the study area.

 

How to cite: Zyrichidou, I., Solomos, S., Kotsopoulos, S., Syropoulou, P., and Kosmidis, E.: Development of a high-resolution air quality forecasting system, based on WRF-Chem model, for the greater area of Thessaloniki, Greece, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-21296, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-21296, 2020