AQMv6 OFFICIAL EVALUATION

This webpage includes relevant links to the official evaluation of the
AQMv6 organized by the NCEP/EMC Model Evaluation Group (MEG).
*Please check back regularly for updates*
Last update: Monday 21 June 2021


TIMELINE

Parallel
Runs Begin		 Evaluation Period
(Start - End)		 Recommendations
from Field Due		 NCEP Director
Briefing		 Code Handoff
to NCO		 IT Test Period
(Start - End)		 Implementation
Date
1/29/21 3/2/21 - 3/18/21
3/31/21 - 4/6/21		 4/6/21 4/9/21 4/12/21 ~6/17/21 - 7/17/21 ~7/20/21

SUMMARY

NCEP OD Briefing on AQMv6 - Presented by Vijay Tallapragada and Geoff Manikin (4/9/21 NCEP OD Briefing)
***NCEP OD Decision: APPROVED***

AQMv6 Service Change Notice (SCN) - National Weather Service Headquarters (6/21/21)

INFORMATION

National Air Quality Forecasting Capability (NAQFC) Information - Maintained by EMC AQ Group
AQMv6.0 Upgrade Plans - Presented by Jeff McQueen (2/17/21 NAQFC Focus Group Meeting)
Analysis of AQMv6.0 (para6d) Performance - Presented by Jeff McQueen (3/31/21 NAQFC Focus Group Meeting)

GFSv16 Official Evaluation Webpage - Reference Information on GFSv16

DATA

AQMv6 Data - EMC FTP site

REAL-TIME GRAPHICS/OUTPUT

AQMv6 Real-Time Guidance - Maintained by Jeff McQueen

RETROSPECTIVE GRAPHICS/OUTPUT

AQMv6 Retrospective Guidance - Maintained by Jeff McQueen

VERIFICATION

AQMv6 Verification Webpage - Maintained by Ed Strobach
NCEP/EMC Model Evaluation Group (MEG) - Maintained by NCEP/EMC MEG
NCEP/EMC MEG Past Presentations - Available to NOAA email addresses only


AIR QUALITY MODEL (AQM)
COMMUNITY MULTISCALE AIR QUALITY (CMAQ) MODEL

The Operational NOAA-EPA National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) predictions are produced twice daily to 48 forecast hours for the 06 and 12 UTC run cycles. The system consists of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model, which is driven by the NWS North American 12-km meteorological (NAM) model. The operational CMAQ v5.0.2 running at NCEP uses CB05 chemical mechanism, the AERO-5 aerosol chemistry, latest point sources emissions, EPA National Emissions Inventory 2014v2 area and mobile sources and Biogenic Emissions Inventory System that uses the Biomass Emission Land Database v3. Aerosol lateral boundary conditions are provided by the NWS GEFS-Aerosol global 4x/day predictions. Bias corrected ozone and PM2.5 predictions are also produced using the ESRL analog Kalman Filter method.