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Title:
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Houston's Dirty Urban Boundary Layer: A Comparison of Urban and Rural Boundary Layer Development in Houston During the TexAQS II Study |
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Scholar:
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Craig Clements |
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School:
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Institute for Multidimensional Air Quality Studies
Department of Geosciences, University of Houston |
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Mentor:
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Dr. Barry Lefer |
[View Presentation ( 1.47 MB)] |
The goal of this project is to characterize the boundary layer over the urban area of Houston as well as its surrounding urban-rural transition zones during the TexAQS II field campaign using multiple meteorological measurement platforms. The field campaign is scheduled to begin the first week of August and continue through mid September.
Progress to date includes the installation of two Doppler Sodars, one at the University of Houston main campus and the other at the University of Houston Coastal Center in La Marque Texas. In addition, the UH radiosonde balloon measurement program began on August 1. Weather balloons are launched twice daily from the main campus. These soundings provide mixing depth measurements along with atmospheric stability and wind structure. Furthermore, The 43-m micrometeorological tower has been maintained all-year to provide turbulence measurements in a rural area. Data from the Sodars, radiosondes, and micrometeorological tower are used to better identify the boundary layer structure during the TexAQS II study.
Preliminary Sodar results from La Marque showed that on the day of 5 August 2006 a classic low-level jet formed below 200 m AGL with maximum wind speeds of approximately 7 m s-1. This wind was associated with onshore flow (Sea Breeze) from Galveston Bay and was also decoupled from the near surface levels. Later in the evening the near surface winds became very weak and the atmosphere became very stable as indicated from tower measurements of temperature and winds. Further analyses are planned to better understand pollutant concentrations and transport in both the urban areas around Houston and the rural regions upwind of the Houston metropolitan area.