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| Atmosphere and the Water Cycle - a Real-Time Look |
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Information - AW04.01 Environmental Meteorology - Meteorology and Atmospheric Pollution: from the urban to meso/regional scale
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Event Information |
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The concrete emergence of extended air pollution problems after World War II induced by long-range transport of airborne pollutants thousands of kilometres away from their source and the wide scale dispersion of radionuclides from bomb tests (reminded in 1986 by the Chernobyl accident) demonstrated the primary role of the atmosphere in influencing the state of our environment at all scales. Issues of environment and health as well as quality of life are thus directly connected to issues of air quality. Forecasts of extreme events are essential for managing the associated risks, whether social, regulatory or economic. The atmosphere is a formidable vector and processor of all natural and anthropogenic gaseous and particulate constituents as part of biogeochemical cycles. Meteorological processes and systems determine for a great part the fate of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere. Thus, all atmospheric scales from local (point and line sources, urban areas) to meso-, synoptic and global scales will disperse, mix, transport and deposit pollutants in a variety of ways and conditions. Environmental meteorology addresses the relationships and interactions between, on the one hand, meteorological processes and variability, and on the other hand, the chemical state of and processes in the atmosphere. These interactions have strong impacts on human health, ecosystems and the Earth environment at large including climate.
In an interdisciplinary perspective embedded in the concept of earth system science, it is thus relevant and beneficial to address the relationships between meteorological processes, atmospheric chemistry and pollution and the environment in a holistic way, where scale interactions have an important role. Furthermore, this implies that understanding, monitoring and predicting the state of the atmospheric environment requires improved approaches based on all available measuring techniques: ground-based, remote sensing, airborne and satellite-borne, while simulations and forecasts require advanced data-assimilation techniques to take full advantage of all the various measurements. Earth Observation (EO) technologies provide powerful tools for monitoring the state of the planet and the global impact of human activities. The session will aim at addressing the challenge that as both science and resolution advance, new stakeholders and a larger share of the public will expect more and better targeted meteorological-chemical forecasts and products.
We call for papers aiming at addressing these issues from both an observational and modelling or theoretical perspective as well as in an integrative way. The session on Environmental Meteorology is divided into 2 sub-sessions to better cope with the different scales of applications:
1) Meteorology and Atmospheric Pollution: from the urban to meso/regional scale
2) Global Environmental Monitoring and Forecasting (including GMES related issues)
Examples of possible topics for sub-session 1 are:
· Studies on meteorological processes affecting atmospheric transport, transformation and deposition of pollutants;
· Atmospheric chemistry and processes involved in the cycle of species in the atmosphere;
· Meso-scale meteorology and air quality modelling;
· Theoretical and experimental work to understand urban processes and feed backs with larger scale processes/circulations;
· Contribution of emissions/concentrations from conurbations to the regional and global loading;
· Airflow above and within city canopies (urban winds and turbulence), urban circulation systems (incl. urban heat islands) and short-distance dispersion modelling over urban/heterogeneous conditions;
· Development, implementation and verification of models for scales from street to regional;
· Development and analysis of monitoring networks for atmospheric pollutants;
· Integrated systems for urban meteorology, air quality and population exposure forecasting;
· Mitigation of atmospheric pollution based on model simulation;
· Urban/pollution impacts on the water balance (surface moisture, dew, evaporation, fog, precipitation) and regional climate;
· Forecasting urban weather;
· Nuclear/biological emergency responses.
This sub-session will be also a dissemination forum for the COST-728 Action.
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