Modeling urban air pollution in Sao Paulo, Brazil: Sensitivity of model predicted concentrations to different turbulence parameterizations

Production and transport of urban air pollution were studied at Sao Paulo, Brazil, due to the importance of the megacity as source of pollutants and the flow pattern and topography of the region. An Eulerian air quality model was applied. An improved method for calculating vertical diffusivities was...

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Autores principales: Ulke, A.G., Andrade, M.F.
Formato: JOUR
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_13522310_v35_n10_p1747_Ulke
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Sumario:Production and transport of urban air pollution were studied at Sao Paulo, Brazil, due to the importance of the megacity as source of pollutants and the flow pattern and topography of the region. An Eulerian air quality model was applied. An improved method for calculating vertical diffusivities was introduced in the model and the impact on the behavior of pollutants was analyzed. The approach includes both shear generated and buoyancy-driven turbulence in a continuous formulation that adequately represents turbulence evolution in the atmospheric boundary layer. Dispersion and transformation processes are well described by model simulations. The application of the proposed parameterization leads to increased predicted concentrations. Relative changes range from 1.2 to 2. Uncertainties in the emissions result in some disagreement between measured and simulated concentrations. Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.