AQMEII 1, 2 and 3: Direct and Indirect Benefits of Community Model Evaluation Exercises

Abstract

Now that the third model evaluation exercise has been launched, a critical re-view of the activities performed under the Air Quality Model Evaluation Interna-tional Initiative (AQMEII) is presented. Attention will be focused on the scientific results obtained by individual modeling groups and by the overall community ac-tivity. In particular, we critically review the contributions of AQMEII to opera-tional, diagnostic, dynamic, and probabilistic model evaluation. In addition, the role of community collaborations around coordinated modeling activities will be analyzed. Aspects considered in this analysis are the coverage of multiple topics and research interests, the distribution of the workload among several players, the exploitation of web technology for data exchange, the rationalization of the organization of information, and the exploitation of existing data from emission inventory to niche ad-hoc and operational monitoring data. Finally, we discuss the channeling of efforts towards the collaboration with other international activities such as the LTRAP Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollutant (TF-HTAP) thus multiplying the benefits for the community.