Open AccessTemperature Inversion Breakup with Impacts on Air Quality in Urban Valleys Influenced by Topographic Shading
Author(s) -
Ángela M. Rendón,
Juan F. Salazar,
Carlos Alberto Palacio Tobón,
Volkmar Wirth
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of applied meteorology and climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.079
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1558-8432
pISSN - 1558-8424
DOI - 10.1175/jamc-d-14-0111.1
Subject(s) - inversion (geology) , inversion temperature , environmental science , pollutant , breakup , urban heat island , shading , air quality index , pollution , geology , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geomorphology , geography , daytime , mechanics , structural basin , art , ecology , visual arts , physics , organic chemistry , biology , chemistry
Urban valleys can experience serious air pollution problems as a combined result of their limited ventilation and the high emission of pollutants from the urban areas. Idealized simulations were analyzed to elucidate the breakup of an inversion layer in urban valleys subject to a strong low-level temperature inversion and topographic effects on surface heating such as topographic shading, as well as the associated air pollution transport mechanisms. The results indicate that the presence and evolution in time of the inversion layer and its interplay with an urban heat island within the valley strongly influence the venting of pollutants out of urban valleys. Three mechanisms of air pollution transport were identified. These are transport by upslope winds, transport by an urban heat island–induced circulation, and transport within a closed slope-flow circulation below an inversion layer.