HR: 1340h
AN: A43C-0054    [Abstracts]
TI: An Integrated Meteorological and Air Quality Modeling Study of the Effect of Complex Terrain on the Regional Transport and Transformation of Air Pollutants
AU: * Kim, D
EM: dckim@dri.edu
AF: Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512 United States
AU: Stockwell, W R
EM: william.stockwell@dri.edu
AF: Desert Research Institute, 2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, NV 89512 United States
AB: Terrain influences wind direction and speed in both its horizontal and vertical components. Vertical transport of air pollutants into the middle troposphere is potentially important for regional and global scale chemistry. Three factors have been identified that have the potential to affect vertical transport of air pollutants: synoptic scale weather systems, buoyancy, and mountain wind flow over complex terrain. Simulations were made to investigate the relative importance of the effects of complex terrain on vertical transport for the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the western United States. The online coupled meteorological - atmospheric chemistry model MM5-chem was used. The simulations showed that the complex terrain has an important effect on the air pollutant's vertical transport over the regional scale. This vertical mixing reached over 5 km above ground level. It appears that the vertical transport was caused by the terrain forced flow, which is affected by the mountain peak height and the complexity of the mountains in the downwind direction. Furthermore, analysis of the mixing ratio distributions of emitted and photochemically produced air pollutants, such as HNO$_{3}$, CO, NO$_{2}$, and HCHO, showed that these were transported to the upper troposphere by the vertical motion.
DE: 0345 Pollution--urban and regional (0305)
DE: 0365 Troposphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0368 Troposphere--constituent transport and chemistry
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting