Section: Application Domains

Air quality

Air quality modeling implies studying the interactions between meteorology and atmospheric chemistry in the various phases of matter, which leads to the development of highly complex models. The different usages of these models comprise operational forecasting, case studies, impact studies, etc., with both societal (e.g., public information on pollution) and economical impacts (e.g., impact studies for dangerous industrial sites). Models lack some appropriate data, for instance better emissions, to perform an accurate forecast and data assimilation techniques are recognized as a major key point for improving the forecasts' quality.

In this context, Clime is interested in various problems, the following being the crucial ones:

• The development of ensemble forecast methods for estimating the quality of the prediction, in relation with the quality of the model and the observations. The ensemble methods allow sensitivity analysis with respect to the model's parameters so as to identify physical and chemical processes, whose modeling must be improved.

• The development of methodologies for sequential aggregation of ensemble simulations. What ensembles should be generated for that purpose, how spatialized forecasts can be generated with aggregation, how can the different approaches be coupled with data assimilation?

• The definition of second-order data assimilation methods for the design of optimal observation networks. The two main objectives are: management of combinations of sensor types and deployment modes and dynamic management of mobile sensors' trajectories.

• How to estimate the emission rate of an accidental release of a pollutant, using observations and a dispersion model (from the near-field to the continental scale)? How to optimally predict the evolution of a plume? Hence, how to help people in charge of risk evaluation for the population?

• The assimilation of satellite measurements of troposphere chemistry.

The activities of Clime in air quality are supported by the development, in partnership with École des Ponts ParisTech and EDF R&D, of the Polyphemus air quality modeling system. This system has a modular design, which makes it easier to manage high level applications such as inverse modeling, data assimilation and ensemble forecast.