Estimating Urban Variables from Upwind Measurements

Description

Current dispersion models, such as AERMOD, require urban meteorological inputs that are not always available. Rural/suburban measurements are more routinely available. There is a need for methods that can estimate urban meteorology from rural/suburban measurements.

The model is based on the internal boundary layer (IBL) developed over an urban area. There are two conditions assumed in the model: 1) micrometeorological variables above the IBL height are the same over the urban and suburban areas, 2) the urban profiles below the IBL height follow Monin-Obukhov similarity theory (MOST).

IBL_pic

Field Studies

Basel Urban Boundary Layer Experiment (BUBBLE) 2002

Riverside, CA 2007

　

Results

Urban meteorological estimates compare well with observations for BUBBLE study

ust_est_BUBBLEU_est_BUBBLEsigw_est_BUBBLE

　

The IBL model overestimates friction velocity measured in the
roughness sublayer (RSL) at urban Riverside

MATLAB Handle GraphicsMATLAB Handle Graphics

Combining the friction velocity profile in RSL by Rotach (2001)
with the IBL model results in better estimates at urban Riverside

MATLAB Handle GraphicsMATLAB Handle Graphics

　
　
Publications

Luhar, A.K., Venkatram, A., Lee, S., 2006: On relationships between urban and rural near-surface meteorology for diffusion applications, Atmospheric Environment, 40, 6541-6553.

Qian, W., Princevac, M., Venkatram, A., 2010, Estimating urban dispersion meteorology from suburban measurements, AMS 16th Conference on Air Pollution Meteorology, Atlanta, GA.