School of Earth and Environment

Air Quality in the Unified Model (AQUM)

<b>Figure 1.</b> AQUM (top) and OMI (bottom) July 2006 mean NO<sub>2</sub> tropospheric columns (10<sup>15</sup> molecules cm<sup>-2</sup>), sampled at satellite overpass time (13:00 GMT).

Background

The Air Quality in the Unified Model (AQUM) is a Met Office regional atmospheric chemistry forecast model. AQUM uses the inbuilt United Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosols (UKCA) scheme to produce short-term forecasts of chemical weather and air quality. On average, poor UK air quality can result in an average reduction in life expectancy of 7-8 months, 50,000 premature deaths annually and may cost the NHS up to £8-20 billion in healthcare. Therefore, the accurate prediction of air pollution events is vital to the Met Office and the general public.

Testing the AQUM

The performance of the AQUM has so far only been tested against a network of surface monitoring stations. Therefore, we are working with the Met Office to help validate and improve the AQUM using satellite data (e.g. tropospheric columns, vertical profiles) from a range of instruments like the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and the Tropospheric Emissions Spectrometer (TES).