Comment on “Simulation of Surface Ozone Pollution in the Central Gulf Coast Region Using WRFChem Model : Sensitivity to PBL and Land Surface Physics”

Abstract EN

A recently published meteorology and air quality modeling study has several serious deficiencies deserving comment.

The study uses the weather research and forecasting/chemistry (WRF/Chem) model to compare and evaluate boundary layer and land surface modeling options.

The most serious of the study's deficiencies is reporting WRF/Chem results for both meteorological and chemical quantities using the asymmetric convective model version 2 (ACM2).

While the ACM2 is a valid model option for WRF, it has not yet been implemented for the chemical portion of the WRF/Chem model.

Hence, the reported air quality modeling results using ACM2 are invalid.

Furthermore, publication of these results gives the erroneous impression that the ACM2 model is not well suited for air quality applications when, in fact, it is the default boundary layer model in the community multiscale air quality (CMAQ) model.