Urban WRF-Chem evaluation over a high-altitude tropical city

Morphology and grid resolution are important aspects that need to be considered in urban modeling applications, since together with buildings they induce a direct effect on wind and dispersion of pollutants over urban areas. In this study, we evaluate high-resolution simulations of a multi-layer urban canopy model (UCM) based on a local climate zone (LCZ) classification coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), in the local meteorological conditions and air quality pollutants of a highly urbanized megacity. This modeling system, known as Building Effect Parameterization (BEP) considers the effects of buildings’ vertical and horizontal surfaces on the momentum that considerably impacts the lower part of the urban boundary layer (UBL). Simulations of the urbanized model (WRFu) were compared against a Noah land surface model (Noah LSM) with no urban physics (WRF) for the same period. It was observed that the LCZ classification and urban parameterization coupled to the model have a direct influence in meteorological parameters and pollutant concentrations. Urban simulations of temperature and wind speed showed higher sensitivity to initial and boundary conditions, increasing the correlation with observations and reducing the bias error. An important observation is that emissions drive air quality concentrations despite the improvements in local meteorology.