This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| AQMEII | |
|---|---|
| Name | AQMEII |
| Formation | 2008 |
| Type | Research Consortium |
| Headquarters | North America and Europe |
| Region served | United States, Canada, European Union |
| Parent organization | International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC), European Commission |
AQMEII
AQMEII was a binational research initiative linking United States and European Union atmospheric science communities to coordinate regional air quality modeling and evaluation across North America and Europe. The initiative convened national agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and directorates of the European Commission with academic institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Imperial College London, and ETH Zurich to improve interoperable regional chemical transport modeling and model intercomparison. AQMEII emphasized harmonized emissions, meteorology, and boundary conditions to support assessments relevant to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and national air quality directives such as those enacted by United States Environmental Protection Agency and member states of the European Council.
AQMEII functioned as a collaborative platform for regional chemical transport model intercomparison, benchmarking, and evaluation using shared datasets from agencies like European Environment Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and observatories including NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories and Air Quality Research Division (ECCC). Activities produced standardized protocols for model experiments comparable to efforts by AEROCOM, Model Intercomparison Project (MIP), Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project, and linked to monitoring networks such as AirBase, AirNow, and EMEP. Outputs informed scientific assessments by organizations like Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, World Health Organization, and region-specific advisory panels including Clean Air Science Advisory Committee.
AQMEII emerged from joint planning meetings involving stakeholders from European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, NOAA, and Environment Canada after workshops at institutions like Purdue University, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), and Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. The primary objectives were harmonization of emissions inventories from sources such as EDGAR and National Emissions Inventory (NEI), intercomparison of models implemented at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Met Office, and NCAR, and evaluation against datasets from Global Atmospheric Watch and regional campaigns like IMPROVE, Air Quality and Climate Change Research Network, and ICARTT. AQMEII also sought to facilitate cross-border capacity building with partners including Environmental Protection Agency (UK), Swiss Federal Office for the Environment, and universities such as University of Helsinki.
AQMEII operated through working groups composed of researchers from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment and Climate Change Canada, European Commission Joint Research Centre, national meteorological services including Météo-France and Deutscher Wetterdienst, and academic centers like University of Cambridge and University of Oxford. Collaborations extended to international programs such as International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC), World Meteorological Organization, and modeling consortia including ICOS and Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. Funding and coordination involved agencies like Natural Environment Research Council, National Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, and ministries from France, Germany, and Canada.
AQMEII standardized model experiments across regional chemical transport models such as CMAQ, CHIMERE, EURAD-IM, WRF-Chem, and coupled systems developed at National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Environment and Climate Change Canada modeling groups, and university labs including Princeton University. Methodologies included harmonized emissions processing using tools from TM5, SMOKE, and inventories like HTAP, with meteorological drivers from WRF, ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System, and boundary conditions derived from global models such as GEOS-Chem and GISS ModelE. Evaluation used observation-based techniques including data assimilation from Surface Radiation Budget Network, satellite retrievals from MODIS, Ozone Monitoring Instrument, and ground networks like CASTNET.
Major AQMEII exercises produced peer-reviewed intercomparison studies involving ozone, particulate matter, and deposition across North America and Europe with contributions cited by Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Journal of Geophysical Research, and Environmental Science & Technology. Results quantified model sensitivities to emissions from sectors tracked by International Maritime Organization and European Aviation Safety Agency, demonstrated discrepancies tied to chemistry mechanisms such as CB05 versus SAPRC, and advanced understanding of transboundary transport exemplified in linkage studies with HTAP II and regional assessments for Northeast United States and Central Europe. Outcomes included standardized datasets archived with partners like EDGAR and methodological protocols adopted by Copernicus and national air quality forecasting centers.
Findings from AQMEII informed policy fora including the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution expert groups, contributed evidence to cost-benefit analyses used by European Commission Directorate-General for Environment and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulatory reviews, and supported regional plans by agencies such as California Air Resources Board and Ontario Ministry of the Environment. The initiative strengthened scientific inputs to health impact assessments referenced by World Health Organization guideline updates and underpinned technical guidance for emission control strategies considered by International Energy Agency and national ministries in Sweden and Netherlands.
Challenges identified by AQMEII included harmonizing disparate emissions inventories like NEI and EEA datasets, reconciling model resolution differences from ECMWF to regional mesoscale models, and integrating evolving satellite products from Sentinel missions. Future directions emphasized coupling with climate projection efforts in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), expanding linkages with urban-scale initiatives such as C40 Cities, and enhancing interoperability with European programs like Horizon 2020 and agencies including European Research Council.
Category:Atmospheric chemistry Category:Air quality