Abstract
Air pollution in urban areas of the Southwestern United States reaches high levels during clear winter nights when atmospheric mixing is limited by stable temperature stratification near the ground. In order to develop a fundamental understanding of vertical structure of the atmosphere very close to the surface, we made wind, temperature and particle measurements at different elevations using a tethered balloon in Phoenix, Arizona in late January and early February, 1998. The results of wind and temperature observations mostly from 1200 January 30 through 1000 hours LST (local standard time) February 1, are presented in this paper. This experiment indicates that numerical models of air pollution in complex terrain need to include at least three layers from the ground to 200 meters. Fundamental information needed to develop sub-grid parameterizations for the most important turbulence scales, are provided to improve modeling of the part of the atmospheric boundary layer important in air pollution.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 1999 3rd ASME/JSME Joint Fluids Engineering Conference, FEDSM'99, San Francisco, California, USA, 18-23 July 1999 (CD-ROM) |
| Publisher | American Society of Mechanical Engineers |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| ISBN (Print) | 0791819612 |
| State | Published - Dec 1 1999 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
- General Engineering
- General Environmental Science