Nonstationary modeling of NO₂, NO and NO_<i>x</i> in Paris using the Street-in-Grid model: coupling local and regional scales with a two-way dynamic approach

Abstract

Regional-scale chemistry-transport models have coarse spatial resolution (coarser than 1 km ×1 km) and can thus only simulate background concentrations. They fail to simulate the high concentrations observed close to roads and in streets, where a large part of the urban population lives. Local-scale models may be used to simulate concentrations in streets. They often assume that background concentrations are constant and/or use simplified chemistry. Recently developed, the multi-scale model Street-in-Grid (SinG) estimates gaseous pollutant concentrations simultaneously at local and regional scales by coupling them dynamically. This coupling combines the regional-scale chemistry-transport model Polair3D and a street-network model, the Model of Urban Network of Intersecting Canyons and Highway (MUNICH), with a two-way feedback. MUNICH explicitly models street canyons and intersections, and it is coupled to the first vertical level of the chemical-transport model, enabling the transfer of pollutant mass between the street-canyon roof and the atmosphere. The original versions of SinG and MUNICH adopt a stationary hypothesis to estimate pollutant concentrations in streets. Although the computation of the NOx concentration is numerically stable with the stationary approach, the partitioning between NO and NO2 is highly dependent on the time step of coupling between transport and chemistry processes. In this study, a new nonstationary approach is presented with a fine coupling between transport and chemistry, leading to numerically stable partitioning between NO and NO2. Simulations of NO, NO2 and NOx concentrations over Paris with SinG, MUNICH and Polair3D are compared to observations at traffic and urban stations to estimate the added value of multi-scale modeling with a two-way dynamical coupling between the regional and local scales. As expected, the regional chemical-transport model underestimates NO and NO2 concentrations in the streets. However, there is good agreement between the measurements and the concentrations simulated with MUNICH and SinG. The two-way dynamic coupling between the local and regional scales tends to be important for streets with an intermediate aspect ratio and with high traffic emissions.