Urban air flow researches for air pollution, emergency preparedness and urban weather prediction

Abstract

The quality of the urban air pollution forecast and the Urban Air Quality Information and Forecasting Systems (UAQIFS) critically depends on the: (i) mapping of emissions, (ii) level of urban air pollution (UAP) models, and (iii) quality of meteorological fields in urban areas. The main problem in forecasting of UAP is the prediction of episodes with high pollutant concentration in urban areas. In these areas most of the well-known methods and models, based on in-situ meteorological measurements, fail to produce realistically the meteorological input fields for the UAP models. Many projects are aimed at developing UAP dispersion models and chemical transformation efforts were put to improving forecasts of meteorological parameters in UAP models. These would be especially important in air pollution episodes (APEs) with low winds, stable stratification, local air circulations, topographic effects, breeze conditions, and internal boundary layers. Moreover, a reliable urban scale forecast of air flows and meteorological fields is of primary support for urban emergency management systems for and at improving knowledge about pollutants and emissions. However, no significant