Evaluation of HNO ₃ , SO ₂ , and NH ₃ in the Surface Tiled Aerosol and Gaseous Exchange (STAGE) option in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model version 5.3.2 against field-scale, in situ and satellite observations
- 1Environmental Protection Agency (Washington, United States of America)
- 2Norwegian Meteorological Institute (Oslo, Norway)
Abstract
The Surface Tiled Aerosol and Gaseous Exchange (STAGE) model was developed as a unified system for estimating dry deposition and bidirectional exchange for field-scale applications and for use within the CMAQ v5.3.2 regional scale model. The field-scale model was evaluated against micrometeorological flux measurements of NH ₃ , HNO ₃ , and SO ₂ at a managed grassland site at Duke Forest Blackwood Division, NC (35.58° N, 79.05° W) and NH ₃ in a cultivated corn field in Lillington, NC (35.38, 78.78° N). When using data collected at the field-scale for soil and vegetation NH ₃ compensation points, modeled fluxes for all species agreed well with the observations, with mean bias within or near the reported measurement uncertainty. However, when using the default CMAQ v5.3.2 values for NH ₃ emission potentials for soil (Γ soil =20) and vegetation (Γ apoplast =247) at the Duke Forest grassland site, the model estimated a mean net deposition (−1.3 ng m ⁻² h ⁻¹ ) while a mean NH ₃ evasive flux (8.4 ng m ⁻² h ⁻¹ ) was observed. An annual 2016 model simulation of CMAQ v5.3.2 was evaluated against Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) satellite NH ₃ observations to assess if the box model biases at the field scale where site specific of indicative of more general model biases. The evaluation with CrIS observations shows a broad underestimation of NH ₃ concentrations by approximately 1 to 2 ppb in the U.S. Great Plains. This is in general agreement with the results from the grassland field data indicating that there is likely an underestimation of the evasive NH ₃ flux in grassland sites in CMAQ due to the model's default tabular values of the vegetation/litter NH4+ concentrations. The sensitivities of the STAGE model to the soil and vegetation emission potentials indicates that regional scale model results for NH ₃ can be further improved with additional micrometeorological flux and vegetation and soil chemistry measurements over different land use types, soil types, and vegetation phenological stages.
Versions
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BibTeX
@article{bash2026evaluation,
title = {{Evaluation of HNO ₃ , SO ₂ , and NH ₃ in the Surface Tiled Aerosol and Gaseous Exchange (STAGE) option in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model version 5.3.2 against field-scale, in situ and satellite observations}},
author = {Jesse O. Bash and John T. Walker and Zhiyong Wu and Ian C. Rumsey and Ben Murphy and Christian Hogrefe and Kathleen M. Fahey and Havala O. T. Pye and Matthew R. Jones and K. Wyat Appel and Mark W. Shephard and Najwa I. Alnsour and Karen E. Cady-Periera},
journal = {Geoscientific Model Development},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5194/gmd-19-9377-2026},
url = {https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/19/9377/2026/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Evaluation of HNO ₃ , SO ₂ , and NH ₃ in the Surface Tiled Aerosol and Gaseous Exchange (STAGE) option in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model version 5.3.2 against field-scale, in situ and satellite observations
AU - Jesse O. Bash
AU - John T. Walker
AU - Zhiyong Wu
AU - Ian C. Rumsey
AU - Ben Murphy
AU - Christian Hogrefe
AU - Kathleen M. Fahey
AU - Havala O. T. Pye
AU - Matthew R. Jones
AU - K. Wyat Appel
AU - Mark W. Shephard
AU - Najwa I. Alnsour
AU - Karen E. Cady-Periera
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Geoscientific Model Development
DO - 10.5194/gmd-19-9377-2026
UR - https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/19/9377/2026/
AB - The Surface Tiled Aerosol and Gaseous Exchange (STAGE) model was developed as a unified system for estimating dry deposition and bidirectional exchange for field-scale applications and for use within the CMAQ v5.3.2 regional scale model. The field-scale model was evaluated against micrometeorological flux measurements of NH ₃ , HNO ₃ , and SO ₂ at a managed grassland site at Duke Forest Blackwood Division, NC (35.58° N, 79.05° W) and NH ₃ in a cultivated corn field in Lillington, NC (35.38, 78.78° N). When using data collected at the field-scale for soil and vegetation NH ₃ compensation points, modeled fluxes for all species agreed well with the observations, with mean bias within or near the reported measurement uncertainty. However, when using the default CMAQ v5.3.2 values for NH ₃ emission potentials for soil (Γ soil =20) and vegetation (Γ apoplast =247) at the Duke Forest grassland site, the model estimated a mean net deposition (−1.3 ng m ⁻² h ⁻¹ ) while a mean NH ₃ evasive flux (8.4 ng m ⁻² h ⁻¹ ) was observed. An annual 2016 model simulation of CMAQ v5.3.2 was evaluated against Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) satellite NH ₃ observations to assess if the box model biases at the field scale where site specific of indicative of more general model biases. The evaluation with CrIS observations shows a broad underestimation of NH ₃ concentrations by approximately 1 to 2 ppb in the U.S. Great Plains. This is in general agreement with the results from the grassland field data indicating that there is likely an underestimation of the evasive NH ₃ flux in grassland sites in CMAQ due to the model's default tabular values of the vegetation/litter NH4+ concentrations. The sensitivities of the STAGE model to the soil and vegetation emission potentials indicates that regional scale model results for NH ₃ can be further improved with additional micrometeorological flux and vegetation and soil chemistry measurements over different land use types, soil types, and vegetation phenological stages.
SN - 1991-9603
SN - 1991-959X
ER -