An online coupled meteorological and air quality modeling study of the effect of complex terrain on the regional transport and transformation of air pollutants over the Western United States

One of the most prominent of characteristics of the western United States that affects its meteorology is the complexity of its mountainous terrain. The meteorological Mesoscale Model, version 5 with Chemistry (MM5-Chem), an online-coupled atmospheric chemistry model, was used to investigate the effect of this terrain on a high air pollution event in the free troposphere. The simulations were evaluated by comparisons with data from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). Complex terrain was shown to have an important influence on the vertical transport of air pollutants on the regional scale; emissions from ground level were vertically mixed as high as 5 km above sea surface level for the wintertime conditions simulated. The simulations showed that the vertical transport of emissions from the Earth's surface could have a more significant effect on mid and upper level chemical concentrations than chemical production. The vertical transport was caused predominately by terrain forced flow over the mountains’ ridge-line and the terrain forced flow was affected by the mountain peak height and the complexity of the terrain downwind.