Action
For more than a decade, the U.S. EPA’s Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model has been a powerful computational tool used by EPA and states for air quality management. The National Weather Service uses the model to produce daily U.S. forecasts for ozone air quality. CMAQ is also used by states to assess implementation actions needed to attain National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The system simultaneously models multiple air pollutants, including ozone, particulate matter, and a variety of air toxics to help regulators determine the best air quality management scenarios for their communities, states, and countries.
The CMAQ system includes emission, meteorology, and chemical modeling components. Research continues in all of these areas to reduce uncertainties in model simulations. In addition to air quality research and regulation, the CMAQ system is also being developed to address interactions between air pollutant concentrations and climate forcing through 2-way coupling between CMAQ and the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model.