ESTIMATION OF ATMOSPHERIC MIXING HEIGHTS USING DATA FROM AIRPORT METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS

Abstract

In this study, ground and sounding meteorological data at the Beijing Airport during 1991 to 1995 were used for estimating the local atmospheric mixing heights. Three methods were compared for this purpose, including the dry adiabatic method, the Nozaki model, and a modified Nozaki model. The modification of the Nozaki model included joint frequencies for wind-velocity and stability based on the complexities of local meteorological conditions. The estimated values from the three methods were verified through the data measured by the Beijing Meteorological Center. The results indicated that the dry adiabatic method has the best performance. The modified Nozaki model was better than the commonly used. This study is a new attempt in utilizing airport meteorological data to estimate atmospheric mixing heights.

Keywords:

• Air quality
• Airport
• Atmosphere
• Meteorology
• Mixing Height

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the Beijing Airport and the Beijing Meteorological Center for providing local meteorological data. Thanks are also given to the China Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada for funding this research.