The influence of CMAQ model resolution on predicted air quality and associated health impacts

Air quality models paired with epidemiological data are often used to estimate health impacts from pollution exposure. The accuracy of these predictions depends on the horizontal resolution. This thesis aims to quantify the impact of horizontal resolution by simulating health impacts due to O3, NO2, and PM2.5 exposure using various model and input resolutions. Adjoint sensitivity analysis was used to predict health impacts, producing results with respect to emissions sources. Furthermore, health impacts were estimated through concentration-exposure relationships in which individual input resolutions were altered. Coarse modeled health impacts were underestimated maxima in urban areas and overestimated in rural areas near urban cores. The resolution of population had the largest impact on predicted health impact for all species while meteorology and emissions impacted the species to different extents. The influence of specific emission sources can be more adequately determined at fine resolution, benefiting air quality control.