Sensitivity Analysis of the WRF-Chem Numerical Model to the Inventory of Anthropogenic Emissions

Abstract

Ambient air pollution directly affects the health of the population and the environment; therefore, the State must control the emission sources to minimize its impact. However, in the province of Córdoba the high costs and difficulties associated with the installation and maintenance of an extensive and permanent air quality monitoring network have promoted the implementation of numerical models that allow for the estimation of emission sources and the final concentration of different chemical compounds at a specific time and place. Among the most widely used models, the WRF-Chem model is extensively utilized due to its advantage of simultaneously resolving the meteorological factor coupled with the chemical factor, as changes in chemistry can influence and modify local meteorological processes and vice versa. In the process of validating the model in the province, the sensitivity of the model was analyzed by using a local inventory of anthropogenic emissions compared to the global EDGAR-HTAP inventory. It was observed that the simulated concentrations statistically match better (r > 0.3) with the values measured by an in-situ monitoring station when the local inventory is used.