Chapter 4.11 Validation of the integrated RAMS-Hg modelling system

Abstract RAMS-Hg and CMAQ-Hg are two state-of-the-science integrated modelling systems developed to study the complex chemical transformation, transport and deposition of atmospheric mercury. In the present study model results using RAMS-Hg are both compared with observations from the Hg deposition network (MDN) and wet deposition of Hg results using CMAQ-Hg. A preliminary validation of the RAMS-Hg model as well as quantitative estimation of the advantages of the proposed approach on coupling mercury processes to an atmospheric modelling system is presented. Model validation indicated that the comprehensive model simulated reasonably well the wet deposition measurements of Hg at the MDN sites.