Comparing the performance of atmospheric transport models to real-life measurements helps researchers isolate problem areas and produce more accurate urban air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission estimates. As cities and states commit to improving air quality to alleviate concerns about public health and climate change, the need for baseline information and ongoing data collection is increasing. A verification system for monitoring rises and reductions of GHG emissions relies on reducing uncertainties in planetary boundary layer (PBL) simulations in atmospheric transport models at the urban scale. A continuous record of the backscatter of light from aerosols collected by a Mini Micro Pulse LiDAR (MiniMPL) sensor has been successfully used to estimate PBL and residual layer (RL) heights. Model performance is assessed by comparing MiniMPL measurements to simulated measurements.