Development of an anthropogenic emissions processing system for Asia using SMOKE

Air quality modeling is a useful methodology to investigate air quality degradation in various locations and to analyze effectiveness of emission reduction plans. A comprehensive air quality model usually requires a coordinated set of emissions input of all necessary chemical species. We have developed an anthropogenic emissions processing system for Asia in support of air quality modeling and analysis over Asia (named SMOKE-Asia). The SMOKE (Sparse Matrix Operator kernel Emissions) system, which was developed by U.S. EPA and has been maintained by the Carolina Environmental Program (CEP) of the University of North Carolina, was used to develop our emissions processing system. A merged version of INTEX 2006 and TRACE-P 2000 inventories was used as an initial Asian emissions inventory. The IDA (Inventory Data Analyzer) format was used to create SMOKE-ready emissions. Source Classification Codes (SCCs) and country/state/county (FIPS) code, which are the two key data fields of SMOKE IDA data structure, were created for Asia. The 38 SCCs and 2752 FIPS codes were allocated to our SMOKE-ready emissions for more comprehensive processing. US EPA’s MIMS (Multimedia Integrated Modeling System) Spatial Allocator software, along with many global and regional GIS shapes, were used to create spatial allocation profiles for Asia. Temporal allocation and chemical speciation profiles were partly regionalized using Asia-based studies. Initial data production using the developed SMOKE-Asia system was successfully performed. NOx and VOC emissions for the year 2009 were projected to be increased by 50% from those of 1997. The emission hotspots, such as large cities and large point sources, are distinguished in the domain due to spatial allocation. Regional emission peaks were distinguished due to temporally resolved emission information. The PAR (Paraffin carbon bond) and XYL (Xylene and other polyalkyl aromatics) showed the first and second largest emission rate among VOC species. Most of point source emissions are located in layers 3 to 4, which the altitude range reaches 310–550 m AGL. Qualitative inter-comparison between model output and ground/satellite measurement showed good agreements in terms of spatial and temporal patterns. We expect that the result of this study will provide better air quality modeling inputs, which will act as a major step to improve our understanding of Asian air quality.

► We developed an anthropogenic emissions processing system for Asia using SMOKE.
► We developed comprehensive modeling emissions inventory and surrogates for processing.
► The 38 SCCs and 2752 FIPS codes were allocated to our SMOKE-ready emissions.
► Performance evaluation using SMOKE-CMAQ and measurements showed good performance.