Presenter: Ariel Green, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Authors: Ariel Green
Faculty Advisor: Bradley Adams, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Institution: Brigham Young University
Dust transportation can be simulated through CMAQ, the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model. Studying the dust movement particular to the state of Utah can show how the air quality is affected by natural events; however, inaccuracies in the preparatory stage cause greater error in the simulations run in CMAQ so that it no longer matches observed data. Before CMAQ can be used, the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) is run to simulate meteorological events. By applying observational nudging to WRF, the meteorological outputs from WRF should be improved. Observational nudging essentially lets WRF use more data points which pushes, or nudges, the model predictions to better fit observations. These outputs then act as inputs for CMAQ, increasing the accuracy of those simulations which will then allow for a better predictive dust transport model to be built.