Experimental Forecasting Using the High-Resolution Research Configuration of GEM-MACH

Experimental air-quality forecasts for the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan have been carried out since 2012, using a 10 km/2.5 km nested resolution version of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Global Environmental Multiscale-Modelling Air-quality and Chemistry (GEM-MACH) on-line air-quality model. We describe here some of the main results of that work, and a major upgrade of this forecasting system (based on work carried out following a 2013 monitoring intensive field campaign in the Athabasca oil sands region of Canada). The new forecasting system has been designed in preparation for a follow-up field campaign, taking place during April and June of 2018.