Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.13 A High Resolution Study of Atmospheric
Dispersion over a Coastal Urban Area with Complex
Terrain
N. Haikin
1
*
, Y. Mahrer
2
, T.G. Reisin
3
, E. Galanti
1
, and P. Alpert
1
1
Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science, Tel Aviv University, Israel
2
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
3
Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne, Israel
Abstract
High resolution simulations were conducted to address the combined
influence of meteorological conditions, topography and pollution sources on air
quality. In this study we apply the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS)
nested down to a resolution of 0.5 km, to analyze the atmospheric behavior over
the Haifa Bay Area in Israel. This area is characterized by a complex terrain adjacent
to the Mediterranean Sea. Simulations were carried out for a time period of 48 h,
and for different synoptic conditions. In order to validate the model performance,
a special high resolution radiosonde campaign was conducted and data from ground
stations was collected. Results show a fair agreement between the model and
ground stations, and similar trends for observed and simulated profiles. However,
systematic differences between the model results and the measurements for specific
features require further improvements of the simulations.
Keywords
RAMS, Model validation, complex topography, urban scale
1. Introduction
Haifa region in Israel, has an environmental challenging combination of heavy
industry located next to a large urban area, all embedded in a coastal complex
terrain. Episodes with high levels of air pollution are occasionally monitored by
the local network and the occurrence of some of them is difficult to explain. In our
study we implement the RAMS model (Pielke et al., 1992) to better understand
the 3D atmospheric flow in that region and the air pollution patterns. Due to its
complexity, very few modeling works were conducted on that area (Mahrer and
Weinroth, 2007), being the present work the one with the highest resolution of
*
On Sabbatical leave from Nuclear Research Center Negev, Israel
