Models-3 Air Quality Model Prototype Science Concept Development

To prepare for future air quality modeling needs and to reduce the duplication of effort in maintaining multiple modeling systems, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing a third-generation comprehensive air quality modeling system, Models-3, employing an incremental prototyping strategy. The objective of the Models-3 air quality model prototyping effort is to test the following science and system concepts: (1) flexibility (i.e., the ability to address multiple air quality issues, such as regional- and urban-scale oxidant and acid deposition); (2) functional modularity and extensibility (i.e., modular and interchangeable science process implementation using a consistent input/output subsystem); (3) systematic and integrated sensitivity and uncertainty analysis; and (4) adaptation of key algorithms for high-performance computational platforms.