Transport and Diffusion of Ozone in the Nocturnal and Morning Planetary Boundary Layer of the Phoenix Valley

The evolution of ozone (O ₃) in the nocturnal and morning-transitional planetary boundary layer (PBL) of the Phoenix valley was measured as a part of the `Phoenix Sunrise Experiment 2001' of the U.S. Department of Energy conducted in June 2001. The goal of the field program was to study the transport, distribution and storage of ozone and its precursors in the urban boundary layer over a diurnal cycle. The ground level O <sub>3</sub> as well as mean meteorological variables and turbulence were measured over the entire period, and vertical profiling (using a tethered balloon) was made during the morning transition period. Approximately half of the observational days showed the usual diurnal cycle of high O <sub>3</sub> during the day and low O <sub>3</sub> at night, with nitrogen oxides (NO <sub>x</sub> = NO <sub>2</sub> + NO) showing an out of phase relationship with O <sub>3</sub>. The rest of the days were signified by an anomalous increase of O <sub>3</sub> in the late evening ( 2200 LST), concomitant with a sudden drop of temperature, an enhancement of wind speed and Reynolds stresses, a positive heat flux and a change of wind direction. NO <sub>x</sub> measurements indicated the simultaneous arrival of an `aged' air mass, which was corroborated by the wind predictions of a mesoscale numerical model. In all, the results indicate that the recirculation of O ₃ rich air masses is responsible for the said high-O ₃ events. Such air masses are produced during the transport of O ₃ precursors by the upslope flow toward mountainous suburbs during the day, and they return back to the city at night via downslope winds (i.e. mountain breeze). The corresponding flow patterns, and hence the high-O ₃ events, are determined by background meteorological conditions. The vertical profiling of O ₃ and flow variables during the morning transition points to a myriad of transport, mixing and chemical processes that determine the fate of tropospheric O ₃. How well such processes are incorporated and resolved in predictive O ₃ models should determine the accuracy of their predictions.     

城市边界层气象条件对O3浓度垂直分布的影响

利用2002年7月21日至26日,北京325m气象塔O3浓度梯度观测资料及同期的气象资料,分析了O3浓度的时空分布特征、超标情况及不同天气条件下,O3浓度的日变化规律;并对7月23日,24日两天出现高浓度污染的大气稳定度和逆温、相对湿度、低空风等边界层气象条件对O3垂直分布的影响进行了详细分析。研究表明:城市边界层气象条件,尤其逆温是影响O3垂直分布的重要因素。     

Numerical Investigation of the Effects of Boundary-Layer Evolution on the Predictions of Ozone and the Efficacy of Emission Control Options in the Northeastern United States

This paper examines the effects of two different planetary boundary-layer (PBL) parameterization schemes – Blackadar and Gayno–Seaman – on the predicted ozone (O₃) concentration fields using the MM5 (Version 3.3) meteorological model and the MODELS-3 photochemical model. The meteorological fields obtained from the two boundary-layer schemes have been used to drive the photochemical model to simulate O₃ concentrations in the northeastern United States for a three-day O₃ episodic period. In addition to large differences in the predicted O₃ levels at individual grid cells, the simulated daily maximum 1-h O₃ concentrations appear at different regions of the modeling domain in these simulations, due to the differences in the vertical exchange formulations in these two PBL schemes. Using process analysis, we compared the differences between the different simulations in terms of the relative importance of chemical and physical processes to O₃ formation and destruction over the diurnal cycle. Finally, examination of the photochemical model's response to reductions in emissions reveals that the choice of equally valid boundary-layer parameterizations can significantly influence the efficacy of emission control strategies.     

Numerical Investigation of Boundary-Layer Evolution and Nocturnal Low-Level Jets: Local versus Non-Local PBL Schemes

Numerical simulations of the evolution of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and nocturnal low-level jets (LLJ) have been carried out using MM5 (version 3.3) with four-dimensional data assimilation (FDDA) for a high pollution episode in the northeastern United States during July 15–20, 1999. In this paper, we assess the impact of different parameterizations on the PBL evolution with two schemes: the Blackadar PBL, a hybrid local (stable regime) and non-local (convective regime) mixing scheme; and the Gayno–Seaman PBL, a turbulent kinetic energy (TKE)-based eddy diffusion scheme. No FDDA was applied within the PBL to evaluate the ability of the two schemes to reproduce the PBL structure and its temporal variation. The restriction of the application of FDDA to the atmosphere above the PBL or the lowest 8 model levels, whichever is higher, has significantly improved the predicted strength and timing of the LLJ during the night. A systematic analysis of the PBL evolution has been performed for the primary meteorological fields (temperature, specific humidity, horizontal winds) and for the derived parameters such as the PBL height, virtual potential temperature, relative humidity, and cloud cover fraction. There are substantial differences between the PBL structures and evolutions simulated by these two different schemes. The model results were compared with independent observations (that were not used in FDDA) measured by aircraft, RASS and wind profiler, lidar, and tethered balloon platforms during the summer of 1999 as part of the NorthEast Oxidant and Particle Study (NE-OPS). The observations tend to support the non-local mixing mechanism better than the layer-to-layer eddy diffusion in the convective PBL.     

天津大气PM2.5垂直特征及边界层影响

利用2006年12月17日至2007年1月1日天津250 m气象铁塔40 m、120 m、220 m高度PM2.5浓度监测资料及铁塔边界层气象资料,分析了不同天气背景下PM2.5随时间、高度变化的分布特征,研究了铁塔边界层气象条件包括逆温、特征摩擦速度、湍流动量和热量对PM2.5的影响,发现垂直PM2.5细粒子的浓度高低与天气背景及边界层气象条件是密切相关。边界层垂直动力和热力变化影响着PM2.5浓度的变化,冷空气过境时刻,PM2.5浓度达到最高峰值。40 m高度出现一个临界摩擦速度0.4 m/s,高浓度PM2.5比较集中在摩擦速度小于0.4 m/s的区域内,大于0.4 m/s这个摩擦速度,边界层的垂直湍流动量及水平和垂直方向的热量输送通量就会明显的变化,因而促使PM2.5在空中的扩散或沉降。也就是说,当摩擦速度小于0.4 m/s时,有利于PM2.5在空中的累积,PM2.5浓度趋于增高的趋势;反之,有利于PM2.5扩散,PM2.5浓度趋于减小的趋势。