Evolution of ozone, particulates, and aerosol direct radiative forcing in the vicinity of Houston using a fully coupled meteorology‐chemistry‐aerosol model

A new fully coupled meteorology‐chemistry‐aerosol model is used to simulate the urban‐ to regional‐scale variations in trace gases, particulates, and aerosol direct radiative forcing in the vicinity of Houston over a 5 day summer period. Model performance is evaluated using a wide range of meteorological, chemistry, and particulate measurements obtained during the 2000 Texas Air Quality Study. The predicted trace gas and particulate distributions were qualitatively similar to the surface and aircraft measurements with considerable spatial variations resulting from urban, power plant, and industrial sources of primary pollutants. Sulfate, organic carbon, and other inorganics were the largest constituents of the…