Air Quality Forecasting

From UKCA

AQUM - Air Quality in the Unified Model

NO from AQUM

The Met Office now performs a daily 5 day air quality forecast using a limited area version of UKCA.

The model grid has 12km horizontal resolution with a domain which covers all of the UK and was until 2006 used for operational weather forecasting. It has 38 model levels with the lowest model level 40m deep and the model top at 39km. It includes aerosol as well as gas phase pollutants. The initial meteorological conditions and meterological variables at the model edges come from the Met Office's 12km North Atlantic and European Model. The values of chemical and aerosol tracers at the model edges come from daily global forecasts carried out as part of the MACC project.

Output from the AQUM model was used to help flight planning for several aircraft campaigns in the UK (RONOCO; SEPTEX) as well as for ClearfLo. It is now planned to use these flights for model evaluation and scientific investigations. A year long run of the AQUM model has now also been carried out for participation in a model intercomparison experiment.

The model output undergoes statistical postprocessing and is then used to deliver site specific forecasts of air quality indices on the Met Office webpages. See this page from the Met Office for more information