What is CHIMERE?

  • CHIMERE is an open source multi-scale chemistry-transport model designed to produce:
    1. Accurate analysis of pollution episodes,
    2. Daily forecasts of ozone, aerosols and other pollutants,
    3. Long-term simulations (entire seasons or years) for emission control scenarios.
    It runs over a range of spatial scales, from the hemispheric to the urban scale with resolutions from 1km to several degrees. It has many different options for simulations which make it also a powerful research tool for testing parameterizations. CHIMERE is a parallelized model that has been tested on machines ranging from desktop PCs running the GNU/Linux operating system, to massively parallel supercomputers (HPCD at ECMWF).
  • On this server, documentation and source codes are free to access. The model is proposed with a complete environment: global model climatologies for boundary conditions, programs for emissions (anthropogenic with emisurf, biomass burning).
  • To learn how to use and modify the model, training sessions are organized once a year (see pictures from previous training sessions).

New functionalities

  1. New file format and databases for anthropogenic and fires emissions
  2. Addition of the XIOS library for output management
  3. Modularization of subroutines
  4. Possibility to output AOD per aerosols
  5. New version in Fortran 90 of the Isorropia reverse model.
  6. New calculation for the turbulence and dry deposition
  7. New transport schemes
  8. Implementation of pollen emission
  9. Parameterization of the impact of fires on mineral dust emissions and Leaf Area Index.

Workshops and Training

Reference papers

  • Menut, L., Cholakian, A., Pennel, R., Siour, G., Mailler, S., Valari, M., Lugon, L., and Meurdesoif, Y.: The CHIMERE chemistry-transport model v2023r1, Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5431-5457, 2024. PDF
  • Menut L., B. Bessagnet, R.Briant, A.Cholakian, F.Couvidat, S.Mailler, R.Pennel, G.Siour, P.Tuccella, S.Turquety, and M.Valari, The CHIMERE v2020r1 online chemistry-transport model, Geoscientific Model Development, 14, 6781-6811, 2021, PDF.
  • Mailler S. et al., CHIMERE-2017: from urban to hemispheric chemistry-transport modeling, Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2397-2423, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2397-2017, PDF, 2017

Documents

Recent results

  • Bessagnet, B., Thapa, N., Bajgai, D. P., Sahu, R., Saikia, A., Cholakian, A., Menut, L., Siour, G., Wangchuk, T., Crippa, M., and Gurung, K.: High resolution air quality simulation in the Himalayan valleys, a case study in Bhutan, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 18675–18696, 2025.
  • Mailler, S., Mallios, S., Cholakian, A., Amiridis, V., Menut, L., and Pennel, R.: New explicit formulae for the settling speed of prolate spheroids in the atmosphere: theoretical background and implementation in AerSett v2.0.2, Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5641-5655, 2024 PDF
  • Menut, L., Bessagnet, B., Cholakian, A., Siour, G., Mailler, S., and Pennel, R.: What is the relative impact of nudging and online coupling on meteorological variables, pollutant concentrations and aerosol optical properties?, Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3645-3665, 2024. PDF
  • Cholakian, A.; Bessagnet, B.; Menut, L.; Pennel, R.; Mailler, S. Anthropogenic Emission Scenarios over Europe with the WRF-CHIMERE-v2020 Models: Impact of Duration and Intensity of Reductions on Surface Concentrations during the Winter of 2015. Atmosphere 2023, 14, 224. PDF

Where is the model used?

Click on the map to see the users