Compilation and evaluation of a Paso del Norte emission inventory

Emission inventories of ozone precursors are routinely used as input to comprehensive photochemical air quality models. Photochemical model performance and the development of effective control strategies rely on the accuracy and representativeness of an underlying emission inventory. This paper describes the tasks undertaken to compile and evaluate an ozone precursor emission inventory for the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez/Southern Doña Ana region. Point, area and mobile source emission data were obtained from local government agencies and were spatially and temporally allocated to a gridded domain using region-specific demographic and land-cover information. The inventory was then processed using the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended Emissions Preprocessor System 2.0 (UAM-EPS 2.0) which generates emissions files compatible with the Urban Airshed Model (UAM). A top down evaluation of the emission inventory was performed to examine how well the inventory represented ambient pollutant compositions. The top-down evaluation methodology employed in this study compares emission inventory ratios of non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC)/nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO)/NOx ratios to corresponding ambient ratios. Detailed NMHC species comparisons were made in order to investigate the relative composition of individual hydrocarbon species in the emission inventory and in the ambient data. The emission inventory compiled during this effort has since been used to model ozone in the Paso del Norte airshed (Emery et al., CAMx modeling of ozone and carbon monoxide in the Paso del Norte airshed. In: Proc of Ninety-Third Annual Meeting of Air & Waste Management Association, 18-22 June 2000, Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 2000).