PNNL Research using WRF-chem
Current Research Applications
Several scientists in the Atmospheric Science and Global Change Division of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory use WRF-chem for their research activities, including:
Jerome Fast: Simulating the evolution of particulates and quantifying radiative forcing downwind of Mexico City using MILAGRO field campaign measurements [Fast et al. 2007; 2009] and measurements from the upcoming VOCALS field campaign.
William Gustafson and Elaine Chapman: Examine how cloud-aerosol interactions affect the aerosol mass, size distribution, and optical depth downwind of Ohio River valley power-plant stacks and investigate the impact of sub-grid scale aerosol heterogeneity on modeled clouds over spatial scales employed by global climate models [Gustafson et al., 2007; Chapman et al. 2008]
Larry Berg and William Gustafson: Implementation of a boundary-layer cloud parameterization [Berg and Stull, 2005] to simulate venting of pollutants into free troposphere.
Steve Ghan and Richard Easter: Developing the Explicit Clouds - Parameterized Pollutants (ECPP) scheme to better simulate the vertical transport of pollutants within convective clouds predicted by larger-scale models.
Yun Qian and William Gustafson: Simulating the feedback effects resulting from black carbon on snowpacks [Qian et al, 2009] and quantifying the subgrid scale variability of particulates.
We also collaborate with scientists at NCAR, NOAA, and several universities in performing research on particulate evolution and aerosol radiative forcing over local and regional scales.
Team Members
The following PNNL scientists collaborate in the development of WRF-chem by implementing various chemistry modules and performing idealized and real-world simulations:
Jerome D. Fast: team leader, model evaluation, process studies
William I. Gustafson Jr.: implementation of modules in WRF-chem framework, model evaluation, process studies
Elaine G. Chapman: photolysis, model evaluation, process studies
James C. Barnard: radiation, aerosol optical properties
Richard C. Easter: cloud chemistry, wet-removal processes
Rahul A. Zaveri: gas-phase and aerosol process models, aerosol optical properties
Steven J. Ghan: cloud-aerosol interactions, indirect effects, cloud-scale vertical mixing