1. Limei Ran 1, Ellen Cooter 2, Verel Benson 3, Dongmei Yang 1, Robert Gilliam 2, Adel Hanna 1, William Benjey 2 1 Center for Environmental Modeling for Policy Development, Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 2 Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 3 Benson Consulting, 200 Haywood Ct, Columbia, MO 65203, USA Acknowledgements: The development of the FEST-C system and the BELD4 tool is sponsored and directed by US EPA Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) under the U.S. EPA Contract No. EP-W-09-023, “Operation of the Center for Community Air Quality Modeling and Analysis (CMAS)” and EP-D-12-044, “Emissions, Air Quality, and Meteorological Modeling Support (EMAQ)”. Fertilizer Emission Scenario Tool for CMAQ (FEST-C) Version 1.0 http://www.cmascenter.org/fest-c The Fertilizer Emission Scenario Tool for CMAQ (FEST-C) version 1.0 is used to: 1.Build the input database of 21 crops for Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model simulations for a given CMAQ domain, 2.Simulate daily fertilizer application information based entirely on simulated plant demand in response to local soil and weather conditions using the EPIC model, and 3.Extract EPIC daily output for CMAQ bi-directional NH 3 modeling. FEST-C system is developed in Linux and is organized in two main components: 1.festc - Java interface programs with 13 tools and scenario management selections, and 2.epic - modified EPIC modeling system for CMAQ (FORTRAN codes) based on the Texas A&M University (TAMU) EPIC0509 (http://epicapex.tamu.edu/epic/). Required systems: SA Raster Tools and VERDI which are released under the CMAS. Designed for CMAQ domains in the North American region: full EPIC modeling capabilities for grids within the CONUS in 4 different projections. The bi-directional CMAQ internally estimates these inputs for regions in Canada and Mexico. Spatial Allocator (SA) V4.1 http://www.cmascenter.org/sa-tools The Spatial Allocator (SA) is a set of geospatial tools which are developed in three components. Updates in the new release: 1.Vector Tools – same as 4.0 2.Raster Tools – new BELD4 tool which processes tiled MODIS land cover data (MCD12Q1) and with built 2001 and 2006 crop tables for US and Canada based on crop statistics data. 3.Surrogate Tools – compute surrogates for polygon shapefiles (e.g. census tracts) FEST-C Interface Integrates WRF/CMAQ with EPIC through the current release of the Spatial Allocator (SA) Raster Tools system released under the CMAS. The Biogenic Emissions Landcover Database version 4 (BELD4), which is generated using the newly released BELD4 tool in the SA Raster Tools System (V4.1), applied consistently in the FEST-C system and WRF/CMAQ modeling system. The WRF/CMAQ system provides daily weather optionally with nitrogen (N) deposition inputs to the FEST-C system. The FEST-C modeling system generates CMAQ input files with: 1.Initial soil and pH conditions 2.Daily N information for specific crops within selected CMAQ grids Future Work FEST-C: 1.Adapt new modular EPIC model (EPIC V1102) with an improved treatment of N modeling to the FEST-C. 2.Biofuel and climate scenario applications using the FEST-C system for both air quality and agricultural ecosystem assessments. 3.Use 2011 NLCD data and NASS Cropland Data Layer (CDL) data in the FEST-C system. SA: 1.Improve BELD4 grid and county overlay method to reduce processing time. FEST-C interface with the BELD4 Data Generation tool The FEST-C process diagram File Menu selections: Create, Copy, Delete, and Save a Scenario. Creating a test_case scenario which comes with the FEST-C release. The WRF/CMAQ to EPIC tool interface showing example inputs for the test_case scenario The 42 rainfed and irrigated crops modeled in the FEST-C system. EPIC daily weather and nitrogen deposition input variables from the WRF/CMAQ The Management File Generation for Application tool interface showing example for the test_case scenario The EPIC Runs for Application tool interface showing example for the test_case scenario The EPIC to CMAQ tool interface showing example for the test_case scenario The Crop Site Info Generation tool interface showing example for the test_case scenario. Set minimum crop acres in selecting grid cells for EPIC modeling. The system does a reasonable job reproducing regional patterns of reported agricultural fertilizer purchases and use (2005 EPIC applications for CMAQ 12km domain). Fertilizer SalesEPIC Application Gronberg and Spahr (2012) N from applied fertilizer ammonia for Rainfed (11) and Irrigated (12) Corn Grain crops in the test_case scenario domain for the 2006 simulation Soil PH value in soil layer 1 (0 to 1cm) for Corn Grain crop (11) grid cells for the 2006 test_case scenario Corn Grain crop (11) yield for the 2006 test_case scenario FEST-C test case: 12-km domain in the northern central plains of the U.S. - showing crop percent in each grid cell. Each grid cell has an identification number – GRIDID associated with it. GRIDID is numbered from 1 for the lower left corner cell to 625 (rowsxcolumns) for the upper right corner cell of the domain. Rainfed Corn Grain (11, left) and rainfed Soybeans (31, right) percent in the grid cells of the test_case scenario.