Study Of The Land-sea Interface In The BarcelonaArea With Lidar Data And Meteorological Models

TLDR: In this paper, the authors analyzed the circulatory patterns of air pollutants in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain), an area with strong coastal and orographic influence, during a typical summer-time situation.

Abstract: This contribution analyzes the circulatory patterns of air pollutants in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain), an area with strong coastal and orographic influence, during a typical summer-time situation. Special emphasis is put on the development of the seabreeze circulation and the penetration of its front in the terrain. The analysis was carried out using data from an elastic-backscatter lidar and results from the application of a mesoscale meteorological model. Vertical scans from the lidar revealed a multilayer arrangement of the aerosols above the city, which is related to the sea-breeze circulations and the mountain and valley winds that originate in the region. The formation of a thermal internal boundary layer above the city, as cold and stable air from the sea flows over the heated surface, was also captured with the lidar. The non-hydrostatic meteorological model MEMO was applied to the Barcelona Area. A dispersion simulation, using CO as a tracer, was also carried out, whose aim is the identification of the atmospheric circulatory patterns in the region. Results from the model helped to understand the information acquired with the lidar to make a full description of the circulatory patterns of air pollutants in the Barcelona air basin.