Modeling regional/urban ozone and particulate matter in Beijing, China

This paper examines Beijing air quality in the winter and summer of 2001 using an integrated air quality modeling system (Fifth Generation Mesoscale Meteorological Model [MM5]/Community Multiscale Air Quality [CMAQ]) in nested mode. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) emission inventory is used in the 36- (East Asia), 12- (East China), and 4-km (greater Beijing area) domains. Furthermore, we develop a local Beijing emission inventory that is used in the 4-km domain. We also construct a corroborated mapping of chemical species between the TRACE-P inventory and the Carbon Bond IV (CB-IV) chemical mechanism before the integrated modeling system is applied to study ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM) in Beijing. Meteorological data for the integrated modeling runs are extracted from MM5. Model results show O3 hourly concentrations in the range of 80-159 parts per billion (ppb) during summer in the urban areas and up to 189 ppb downwind of the city. High fine PM (PM2.5) concentrations (monthly average of 75 microg x m(-3) in summer and 150 microg x m(-3) in winter) are simulated over the metropolitan and down-wind areas with significant secondary constituents. A comparison against available O3 and PM measurement data in Beijing is described. We recommend refinements to the developed local Beijing emission inventory to improve the simulation of Beijing's air quality. The 4-km modeling configuration is also recommended for the development of air pollution control strategies.