Impact of modified turbulent diffusion of PM2.5 aerosol in WRF-Chem simulations in eastern China

Correct description of the boundary layer mixing process of particle is an important prerequisite for understanding the formation mechanism of pollutants, especially during heavy pollution episodes. Turbulent vertical mixing determines the distribution of momentum, heat, water vapor and pollutants within the planetary boundary layer (PBL). However, what is questionable is that the turbulent mixing process of particles is usually denoted by turbulent diffusion of heat in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). With mixing-length theory, the turbulent diffusion relationship of particle is established, embedded into the WRF-Chem and verified based on long-term simulations from 2013 to 2017. The new turbulent diffusion coefficient is used to represent the turbulent mixing process of pollutants separately, without deteriorating the simulation results of meteorological parameters. The new turbulent diffusion improves the simulation of pollutant concentration to varying degrees, and the simulated results of PM2.5 concentration are improved by 8.3% (2013), 17% (2014), 11% (2015) and 11.7% (2017) in eastern China, respectively. Furthermore, the pollutant concentration is expected to increase due to the reduction of turbulent diffusion in mountainous areas, but the pollutant concentration did not change as expected. Therefore, under the influence of complex topography, the turbulent diffusion process is insensitive to the simulation of the pollutant concentration. For mountainous areas, the evolution of pollutants is more susceptible to advection transport because of the simulation of obvious wind speed gradient and pollutant concentration gradient. In addition to the PM2.5 concentration, the concentration of CO as a primary pollutant has also been improved, which shows that the turbulent diffusion process is extremely critical for variation of the various aerosol pollutants. Additional joint research on other processes (e.g., dry deposition, chemical and emission processes) may be necessary to promote the development of the model in the future.