- Principal Investigator: Tejas Shah (Ramboll Americas Engineering Solutions, Inc.)
- Study Period: July 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025
- Funded by Science for Solutions Research Grant: $40,980
- DAQ Contact: Chris Pennell ([email protected])
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) play a crucial role as a precursor in ozone formation. Although soils are an important source of NOx emissions in the Northern Wasatch Front (NWF), a comprehensive assessment of the influence of soil NOx emissions on air quality in the region is currently lacking. With declining NOx emissions from fossil fuel combustion, the relative contribution of NOx emissions from managed and unmanaged soils is on the rise. We are in the process of updating the Berkeley-Dalhousie Soil NOx Parameterization (BDSNP) module within the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) by refining model inputs for atmospheric nitrogen-deposition and fertilizer application, along with updating the effects of soil moisture on NOx emission rate based on field observations. This project will use updated vegetation input data for MEGAN across the NWF developed by Ramboll and Alex Guenther in a current S4S project. Utah Division of Air Quality (UDAQ) modelers are using MEGAN, with some assistance from Ramboll, to understand changes in NWF biogenic VOC emissions that result from Ramboll’s current S4S project in collaboration with Prof. Alex Guenther.
The overall goal of this project is to assess the updated MEGAN BDNSP soil NOx model and input data for UDAQ’s modeling domains, specifically for the Wasatch Front, to ensure an appropriate representation. The necessary steps involve generating updated input data for MEGAN and running MEGAN with the updated BDNSP parameterization to generate soil NOx emissions for the NWF.
The benefit of this project will be improved soil NOx emissions for air quality modeling in the Wasatch Front that are critical for scientific understanding and the development of regulatory strategies to improve and maintain clean air. The proposed work aligns with the FY2025 Science for Solutions Research Grant solicitation by addressing the need for improvements in estimating soil NOx emissions., specifically (f) background ozone. Additional details about USOS can be found on NOAA’s website.