Validation and adaptation of WRF-Chem numerical model to simulate CO2 transport in Saint-Petersburg

<p>Alteration of the Earth's radiation balance due to the rise of the content of the main anthropogenic greenhouse gas &#1057;&#1054;2 in the atmosphere leads to the changes of the planet's climate. It is known that megacities contribute approximately 70% to the total anthropogenic CO2 emissions playing a critical role in the climate changes. Several methods of emission estimation are being developed to control commitments undertaken by different countries on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One of such methods - inverse modelling - combines accurate observations of the increase of gas` content, a priori anthropogenic emissions and numerical modelling of atmospheric transport to define gas` sources and correct emission data used in the simulation. Several studies demonstrated that the inverse modelling of CO₂ anthropogenic emissions highly depends on the modelling of CO₂ transport in the atmosphere. Therefore a careful validation of such models must be carried out before CO₂ emissions estimation by the inverse modelling. In the current research we studied capabilities of numerical weather prediction and chemistry dynamic model WRF-Chem to simulate CO₂ transport on the territory of Saint-Petersburg (Russia) using observations of near-ground and total CO₂ content.&#160;</p>