2021 Program Topics

2021 Session Topics

Keynote: Climate change, air pollution, and public health: Past, present, and future

Presented by: Susan Anenberg, Director of the MPH concentration in Global Environmental Health, Associate Professor, Environmental and Occupational Health & Global Health, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health

Modeling of Processes Across Global to Regional and Local Scales

Chairs: Jonathan Pleim, US EPA & Paul Makar, Environment and Climate Change, Canada

Modelling of Processes across Global to Regional and Local Scales (including fundamental processes) The linkages between the atmosphere's constituents and meteorology are dependent on the level of knowledge and methodology used to represent chemical and physical processes within the models.  These processes are sometimes scale-dependant, with different scales necessitating different approaches.  They may also be scale independent, applicable to all resolutions and modelling domains.  In this session, we focus on new modeling systems and process representations that span all scales of atmospheric modelling.  A particular focus is on fundamental processes - those which have a key influence on the predicted state of the atmosphere, yet may be addressed through novel process representation.

Presenters:

  • Johannes Flemming, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
  • Christian Hogrefe, Atmospheric and Environmental Systems Modeling Division, CEMM, ORD, U.S. EPA
  • Junhua Zhang, Air Quality Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Gonzalo Ferrada, Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa
  • Geneva Gray, North Carolina State University
  • Min Huang, George Mason University
  • Zhen Liu, California Air Resources Board
  • Paul Makar, Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Jonathan Pleim, US EPA
  • Zhan Zhao, California Air Resources Board
  • Poster Presenter: Gabriele Pfister, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Turbulence Resolved and Fine Scale Processes

Chairs: Ivana Stiperski, University of Innsbruck & Jonathan Pleim, US EPA

As the capabilities of computer systems continue to rapidly improve, we are better able to model formerly unresolvable turbulent processes.  This session focusses on fine-scale modeling using LES, DNS, and CFD, particularly as applied to air quality related issues.  Topics of special interest include modeling the stratified and inhomogeneous boundary layer, fine-scale modeling of urban environments, turbulent modeling of dispersion and deposition of pollutants, and methods for bridging the Terra Incognita between mesoscale and turbulent scale modeling. Presentations on novel developments in sub-grid parameterizations of PBL and cloud convention for mesoscale models are also welcome. 

Presenters:

  • Cedrick Ansorge, Institute for Goephysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne
  • Marc Calaf, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah
  • Marco Giometto, Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University
  • Steven Hanna, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health
  • Timothy Juliano, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
  • Abdul Samad, University of Stuttgart

Merging Models with Observations

Chairs: Rajesh Kumar, NCAR & Paul Makar, Environment and Climate Change, Canada

This session combines all aspects of science that combines meteorological and/or air-quality models with meteorological and chemical observations.  Topics include model evaluation using in-situ and satellite-based meteorological and chemical observations, data assimilation and inverse modelling, model-measurement fusion (including post-processing), and source attribution.  

Presenters:

Complex Terrain and Coastal Zone Meteorology

Chairs: Ivana Stiperski, University of Innsbruck & Katie Lundquist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Complex terrain and coastal zones are prevalent features of the Earth’s land-surface which strongly impact meteorology.  Interactions between these regions of complex meteorology with the transport and dispersion of pollutants are a topic of continuing study. This session focuses on modelling efforts that examine the influence of complex terrain and the land-ocean interface on the atmosphere, especially as it relates to air quality issues.

Presenters:

  • Shu-Hua Chen, Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis
  • Lorenzo Giovannini, Atmospheric Physics Group, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento
  • Julián Quimbayo-Duarte, Institute for Atmosphere and Environment, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
  • Robert Arthur, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • Poster Presenter: Enzo Le Bouëdec, Université de Grenoble Alpes / LEGI

Met-Chemistry Interactions: Aerosol Direct & Indirect Feedbacks and Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Aerosol Chemistry, Radiative Impacts of Gases

Chairs: Xiaohong Liu, Texas A&M University & Gannet Hallar, University of Utah

In this session, we invite the latest observational and modeling studies on the topics, including (not limited to): (1) Aerosol indirect effects on warm, mixed-phase and ice clouds, (2) Aerosol optical, microphysical and hygroscopic properties and aerosol direct effects, (3) Aerosol formation, chemistry, atmospheric processing, and impacts on cloud condensational nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleating particle (INP) properties, and (4) chemistry-aerosol-meteorology interactions and feedbacks on atmospheric composition and air quality.

Presenters:

Machine Learning Applications for Air Quality Research

Chairs: Susan O’Neill, US Forest Service & Christoph Keller, NASA

Machine learning (ML) and related methods are rapidly gaining popularity in the air quality community. In this session, we invite abstracts that highlight the use of ML for a wide range of air quality applications, including (but not limited to) air quality forecasting, downscaling applications, bias correction, and model parameterization. We also encourage contributions discussing the limitations of such data-driven applications, novel approaches to combine machine learning and physics-based models, and methods to better understand the results produced by the ML algorithms (explainable artificial intelligence).

Presenters:

Composition and Operational Forecasting from Daily to Seasonal Scales

Chairs: Rajesh Kumar, NCAR & Christoph Keller, NASA

This session invites submissions on producing atmospheric composition forecasting from daily to seasonal and subseasonal scales. This includes development and implementation of both research and operational deterministic air quality forecasting systems, ensemble approaches for probabilistic air quality forecasting, techniques to improve initialization of air quality models, and post-processing of air quality forecasts to improve decision-making.

Presenters:

Unique/Extreme Events and their Impacts on Meteorology and Air Quality

Chairs: Susan O’Neill, US Forest Service & Neil Lareau, University of Nevada, Reno

Unique or extreme events such as wildfires, stratospheric ozone intrusions, dust storms, and pandemics can have notable and sometimes dramatic impacts on meteorology and air quality. Further, while typically episodic and unique in nature, climatological projections have them occurring more frequently and the enormity of their impact, spatially, temporally, and in terms of creating hazardous conditions, affect millions of lives. In this session we invite abstracts that probe the underlying physics and chemistry of extreme events with the goal of understanding their impact on air quality and meteorology. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, recent high-impact wildfires, COVID-19 impacts on air quality and, conversely air-quality impacts on COVID-19, along with other notable events (e.g., dust storms; stratospheric ozone intrusions, etc.).

Presenters: 

  • David Peterson, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
  • Daniel Tong, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, George Mason University
  • Megan Bela, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) University of Colorado / NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL)
  • Joseph Jakuta, District of Columbia Department of Energy an Environment
  • Melissa Maestas, South Coast Air Quality Management District
  • Francis Turney, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Jun Wang, The University of Iowa
  • Poster Presenter: Behrooz Roozitalab, University of Iowa
  • Poster Presenter: William Lassman, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
  • Poster Presenter: Kai Wilmot, University of Utah