This study investigates how well the Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS) simulates the sea breeze from False Bay (False Bay sea breeze) at a small resolution of 200m. It describes the influence of the sea breeze in the Stellenbosch wine growing district focusing on temperature, relative humidity and wind speed and direction through three case studies, using three different synoptic conditions. The RAMS simulations are verified against measurements done by automatic weather stations in the study area for all three case studies. The first synoptic condition investigated is when light onshore flow occurred over the south-western Cape. The RAMS model simulated the vertical and horizontal structure of the sea breeze from False Bay very well. However RAMS predicted the onset of the sea breeze 3 hours earlier than the AWS data predicted. The flow was off-shore in the second case study. The RAMS simulations as well as the observed data from the automatic weather stations, showed the two sea breezes influencing the study area, one from Table Bay, west of Stellenbosch, and one from False Bay. In this case study the model simulated the flatter head and stronger False Bay sea breeze. The third case study investigated the influence of strong onshore synoptic conditions, in which the model and observed values showed that no sea breeze developed from False Bay. From the three case studies it was found that the sea breeze is influenced by the synoptic flow and that the sea breeze causes cooling of between 3°C and 16°C and relative humidity (RH) increase of between 16 – 57% depending on the synoptic flow. RAMS was able to simulate the sea breeze theoretically correct and has the potential to be used to identify climatological areas in the wine growing areas of the Western Cape. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / Unrestricted

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, for completion of the Degree of' Master of Science / The atmospheric response of the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS) to sea-surface temperature anomaliesis investigated. A period of four days was chosen from 21 to 24 January 1981, where focus was placed on the development and dissipation of a tropical-temperate trough across Southern Africa. Previous experimenting this mesoscalenumerical model have detemined the kinematic, moisture, and thermodynamic nature of these synoptic features. The research in this dissertation focuses specifically on the sensitivity of the numerical model's simulated responses to positive sea-surface temperature anomalies. Three separate experiments were devised, in which positive anomalous temperatures were added to the ocean surface north of Madagascar (in the tropical Indian Ocean), at the region of the Agulhas Current retroflection, and along the tropical African west coast (in the Northern Benguela and Angola currents). The circulation aspects of each sensitivity test were investigated through the comparison of simulated variables such as vapour and cloud mixing ratios, temperature, streamlines and vertical velocity, with the same variables created by a control simulation. The results indicate that for the first sensitivity test, (the Madagascar anomaly), cyclogenesis was initiated over the area of modified sea temperatures which resulted in a marginal decrease in continental precipitation. The second sensitivity test (over the Agulhas retroflection) produced a much smaller simulated response to the addition of anomalously warm sea temperatures than the tropical Indian Ocean anomaly. Instability and precipitation values increased over the anomalously warm retroflection region, and were slowly transferred along the westerly wave perturbation and the South African east coast. The third sensitivity experiment showed a predominantly localised simulated increase in precipitation over Gabon and the Congo, with the slow southward progression of other simulated circulation differences taking place. The small perturbations in each of the simulated meteorological responses are consistent with the expected climate response to anomalously warm sea-surface temperatures in those areas. / AC 2018

Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar as condições meteorológicas favoráveis e desfavoráveis à dispersão de poluentes, com ênfase no ozônio, nas áreas urbanas associadas à Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP) e a Grande Santiago (GS). Medidas de concentração de estações localizadas em ambas as áreas de estudo foram utilizadas para determinar o comportamento médio, o número de ocorrências de ultrapassagens de padrão de qualidade do ar e o aumento noturno das concentrações de ozônio num período de dez anos. Foi encontrado que o máximo horário acontece próximo das 14 horas (horário local) nas duas regiões, e que existe uma tendência à diminuição no número de ultrapassagens do padrão de qualidade do ar associado a este poluente. Na RMSP é possível observar um máximo secundário durante a madrugada, enquanto que este fenômeno não é claramente observado nos valores médios de concentração na GS. Com dados da Reanálise do NCEP/NCAR foi visto que a ocorrência deste fenômeno está associada a configurações sinóticas específicas na GS, enquanto que na RMSP não existe padrão sinótico específico que diferencie casos com e sem aumento de ozônio noturno. Um novo módulo fotoquímico (NPM), contendo 95 reações foi inserido no modelo BRAMS na tentativa de melhorar o prognóstico das concentrações de poluentes, principalmente em relação ao ozônio. O NPM mostrou melhor desempenho que o módulo fotoquímico original do modelo (SPM; Simple Photochemical Module) para todos os poluentes considerados, salvo o ozônio, para o qual o SPM apresentou melhores índices estatísticos em 5 das 7 estações avaliadas. As características locais associadas à ocorrência simultânea ou não de aumento na concentração de ozônio foram estudadas utilizando o modelo BRAMS com o módulo SPM ativado, sendo verificado que o aumento de ozônio na RMSP está associado, principalmente, ao transporte vertical deste poluente a partir de níveis mais elevados da atmosfera, enquanto que o transporte horizontal é a maior contribuição para o aumento das concentrações de ozônio durante o período noturno na GS. / This work aimed to analyze the favorable and unfavorable meteorological conditions for pollutant dispersion, especially ozone, at the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) and the Greater Santiago (GS). Ozone concentration measurements from stations located in both urban areas were used to determinate the mean behavior, the number of standard air quality exceedances and the increase on nocturnal ozone concentration over a 10 years period. It was found that the diurnal maximum occurs around 14 local time in both urban areas, and that there is a diminishment tendency of the total cases of standard air quality exceedances during all period. A secondary maximum of ozone concentration was observed in MASP at night, which was not clearly seen on mean values over GS. By using the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data it was seen that the occurrence of this phenomenon is associated to specific synoptic patterns for GS, while there is no specific synoptic pattern for the MASP cases, with or without nocturnal increase in ozone concentrations. A New Photochemical Module (NPM), containing 95 reactions was coupled to BRAMS model in an attempt to improve the prediction of air pollutants, especially ozone. The NPM showed a better performance than the original module, the SPM (Simple Photochemical Module), for all considered pollutants but ozone. For this pollutant, the SPM presents better statistical indexes for 5 of the 7 stations analyzed. The local characteristics related to simultaneous occurrence of nocturnal ozone increase was studied using the SPM-BRAMS model, which showed that the secondary nocturnal maximum of ozone concentrations in MASP are related to vertical transport of this pollutant from higher levels of the atmosphere to the surface, while the horizontal transport is a major contributor to the increase of ozone concentrations in the GS during the night.

Die Dynamik der Atmosphäre der Erde umfasst einen Bereich von mikrophysikalischer Turbulenz über konvektive Prozesse und Wolkenbildung bis zu planetaren Wellenmustern. Für Wettervorhersage und zur Betrachtung des Klimas über Jahrzehnte und Jahrhunderte ist diese Gegenstand der Modellierung mit numerischen Verfahren. Mit voranschreitender Entwicklung der Rechentechnik sind Neuentwicklungen der dynamischen Kerne von Klimamodellen, die mit der feiner werdenden Auflösung auch entsprechende Prozesse auflösen können, notwendig. Der dynamische Kern eines Modells besteht in der Umsetzung (Diskretisierung) der grundlegenden dynamischen Gleichungen für die Entwicklung von Masse, Energie und Impuls, so dass sie mit Computern numerisch gelöst werden können. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Eignung eines unstetigen Galerkin-Verfahrens niedriger Ordnung für atmosphärische Anwendungen. Diese Eignung für Gleichungen mit Wirkungen von externen Kräften wie Erdanziehungskraft und Corioliskraft ist aus der Theorie nicht selbstverständlich. Es werden nötige Anpassungen beschrieben, die das Verfahren stabilisieren, ohne sogenannte „slope limiter” einzusetzen. Für das unmodifizierte Verfahren wird belegt, dass es nicht geeignet ist, atmosphärische Gleichgewichte stabil darzustellen. Das entwickelte stabilisierte Modell reproduziert eine Reihe von Standard-Testfällen der atmosphärischen Dynamik mit Euler- und Flachwassergleichungen in einem weiten Bereich von räumlichen und zeitlichen Skalen. Die Lösung der thermischen Windgleichung entlang der mit den Isobaren identischen charakteristischen Kurven liefert atmosphärische Gleichgewichtszustände mit durch vorgegebenem Grundstrom einstellbarer Neigung zu(barotropen und baroklinen)Instabilitäten, die für die Entwicklung von Zyklonen wesentlich sind. Im Gegensatz zu früheren Arbeiten sind diese Zustände direkt im z-System(Höhe in Metern)definiert und müssen nicht aus Druckkoordinaten übertragen werden.Mit diesen Zuständen, sowohl als Referenzzustand, von dem lediglich die Abweichungen numerisch betrachtet werden, und insbesondere auch als Startzustand, der einer kleinen Störung unterliegt, werden verschiedene Studien der Simulation von barotroper und barokliner Instabilität durchgeführt. Hervorzuheben ist dabei die durch die Formulierung von Grundströmen mit einstellbarer Baroklinität ermöglichte simulationsgestützte Studie des Grades der baroklinen Instabilität verschiedener Wellenlängen in Abhängigkeit von statischer Stabilität und vertikalem Windgradient als Entsprechung zu Stabilitätskarten aus theoretischen Betrachtungen in der Literatur. / The dynamics of the Earth’s atmosphere encompass a range from microphysical turbulence over convective processes and cloud formation up to planetary wave patterns. For weather forecasting and the investigation of climate over decades and centuries, these are subject to modelling with numerical methods. With progressing development of computer technology, re-development of the dynamical cores of climate models is in order to properly handle processes covered by the increasing resolution. The dynamical core of a model consists of the adaptation(discretization)of the basic equations for the dynamics of mass, energy and momentum for solving them numerically employing computers. The presented work investigates the applicability of a low-order Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method for atmospheric applications. With equations that include external forces like gravitation and the Coriolis force, that is not given by theory. Necessary changes for stabilizing the method without resorting to slope limiters are presented. For the unmodified method, the basic inability to properly keep atmospheric balances is demonstrated. The developed stabilized model reproduces a set of standard test cases in a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. The solution of the termal wind equation along its characteristics curves, those being identical to the isobars, produces balanced atmospheric states with tunable (barotropic and baroclinic) instability via a prescribed zonal wind field. The constructed instability directly relates to the generation of cyclones. In contrast to earlier works, these balanced states are directly given in the z system (height in meters), without need for elaborate conversion from pressure coordinates. With these constructed states, both as reference state, the deviations from which being considered numerically, and as especially as initial condition subject to a small perturbation, several studies of barotropic and baroclinic instability are conducted via simulations. Particularily, the construction of steady states with configurable zonal flows of certain baroclinity facilitates a simulation-based study of baroclinic instability of differing wavelengths, depending on static stability and vertical wind gradient, in correspondence with stability maps from theoretical considerations in the literature.

abstract: The combination of rapid urban growth and climate change places stringent constraints on multisector sustainability of cities. Green infrastructure provides a great potential for mitigating anthropogenic-induced urban environmental problems; nevertheless, studies at city and regional scales are inhibited by the deficiency in modelling the complex transport coupled water and energy inside urban canopies. This dissertation is devoted to incorporating hydrological processes and urban green infrastructure into an integrated atmosphere-urban modelling system, with the goal to improve the reliability and predictability of existing numerical tools. Based on the enhanced numerical tool, the effects of urban green infrastructure on environmental sustainability of cities are examined. Findings indicate that the deployment of green roofs will cool the urban environment in daytime and warm it at night, via evapotranspiration and soil insulation. At the annual scale, green roofs are effective in decreasing building energy demands for both summer cooling and winter heating. For cities in arid and semiarid environments, an optimal trade-off between water and energy resources can be achieved via innovative design of smart urban irrigation schemes, enabled by meticulous analysis of the water-energy nexus. Using water-saving plants alleviates water shortage induced by population growth, but comes at the price of an exacerbated urban thermal environment. Realizing the potential water buffering capacity of urban green infrastructure is crucial for the long-term water sustainability and subsequently multisector sustainability of cities. Environmental performance of urban green infrastructure is determined by land-atmosphere interactions, geographic and meteorological conditions, and hence it is recommended that analysis should be conducted on a city-by-city basis before actual implementation of green infrastructure. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil and Environmental Engineering 2016

Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar as condições meteorológicas favoráveis e desfavoráveis à dispersão de poluentes, com ênfase no ozônio, nas áreas urbanas associadas à Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP) e a Grande Santiago (GS). Medidas de concentração de estações localizadas em ambas as áreas de estudo foram utilizadas para determinar o comportamento médio, o número de ocorrências de ultrapassagens de padrão de qualidade do ar e o aumento noturno das concentrações de ozônio num período de dez anos. Foi encontrado que o máximo horário acontece próximo das 14 horas (horário local) nas duas regiões, e que existe uma tendência à diminuição no número de ultrapassagens do padrão de qualidade do ar associado a este poluente. Na RMSP é possível observar um máximo secundário durante a madrugada, enquanto que este fenômeno não é claramente observado nos valores médios de concentração na GS. Com dados da Reanálise do NCEP/NCAR foi visto que a ocorrência deste fenômeno está associada a configurações sinóticas específicas na GS, enquanto que na RMSP não existe padrão sinótico específico que diferencie casos com e sem aumento de ozônio noturno. Um novo módulo fotoquímico (NPM), contendo 95 reações foi inserido no modelo BRAMS na tentativa de melhorar o prognóstico das concentrações de poluentes, principalmente em relação ao ozônio. O NPM mostrou melhor desempenho que o módulo fotoquímico original do modelo (SPM; Simple Photochemical Module) para todos os poluentes considerados, salvo o ozônio, para o qual o SPM apresentou melhores índices estatísticos em 5 das 7 estações avaliadas. As características locais associadas à ocorrência simultânea ou não de aumento na concentração de ozônio foram estudadas utilizando o modelo BRAMS com o módulo SPM ativado, sendo verificado que o aumento de ozônio na RMSP está associado, principalmente, ao transporte vertical deste poluente a partir de níveis mais elevados da atmosfera, enquanto que o transporte horizontal é a maior contribuição para o aumento das concentrações de ozônio durante o período noturno na GS. / This work aimed to analyze the favorable and unfavorable meteorological conditions for pollutant dispersion, especially ozone, at the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) and the Greater Santiago (GS). Ozone concentration measurements from stations located in both urban areas were used to determinate the mean behavior, the number of standard air quality exceedances and the increase on nocturnal ozone concentration over a 10 years period. It was found that the diurnal maximum occurs around 14 local time in both urban areas, and that there is a diminishment tendency of the total cases of standard air quality exceedances during all period. A secondary maximum of ozone concentration was observed in MASP at night, which was not clearly seen on mean values over GS. By using the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data it was seen that the occurrence of this phenomenon is associated to specific synoptic patterns for GS, while there is no specific synoptic pattern for the MASP cases, with or without nocturnal increase in ozone concentrations. A New Photochemical Module (NPM), containing 95 reactions was coupled to BRAMS model in an attempt to improve the prediction of air pollutants, especially ozone. The NPM showed a better performance than the original module, the SPM (Simple Photochemical Module), for all considered pollutants but ozone. For this pollutant, the SPM presents better statistical indexes for 5 of the 7 stations analyzed. The local characteristics related to simultaneous occurrence of nocturnal ozone increase was studied using the SPM-BRAMS model, which showed that the secondary nocturnal maximum of ozone concentrations in MASP are related to vertical transport of this pollutant from higher levels of the atmosphere to the surface, while the horizontal transport is a major contributor to the increase of ozone concentrations in the GS during the night.

Le phénomène de destruction de l’ozone est un sujet vaste mettant en scène de nombreux processus. Il a pour origine l’émission de composés dits gaz sources (SGs) dans la troposphère. Récemment, les espèces à très courte durée de vie (VSLS) ont été identifiées comme SGs possibles. Cependant, elles ne possèdent pas un temps de vie suffisamment long pour atteindre directement la stratosphère. Les VSLS se dégradent au cours de leur transport, conduisant à des composés intermédiaires, les gaz produits (PGs). Les SGs et les PGs des VSLS vont entrer dans la stratosphère au niveau des régions équatoriales où règne un transport vertical rapide, la convection. Les SGs à temps de vie plus long peuvent accéder à la stratosphère par tous les types de transport possibles. Une fois dans la stratosphère, les SGs et PGs vont être convertis en espèces réactives capables de détruire l’ozone. Cette thèse présente l’étude des différentes étapes se produisant avant la destruction de l’ozone : l’émission et le transport des SGs dans l’atmosphère, leur chimie de dégradation au cours de leur transport et enfin leur contribution à la destruction de l’ozone. Les traceurs chimiques tels que CO sont tout d’abord utilisés pour mettre en évidence le transport des SGs et PGs de la troposphère à la stratosphère. Puis, deux études décrivant 2 types d’espèces différentes, entrant dans le processus de destruction de l’ozone, sont présentées : pour OCS (sulfure de carbonyle) et les VSLS bromés (CHBr3 et CH2Br2). OCS est l’un des principaux précurseurs d’aérosols sulfatés présents dans la stratosphère catalysant la destruction de l’ozone par chimie hétérogène. Cependant, sa contribution à cette couche comporte de nombreuses incertitudes. Ses sources d’émissions, sa répartition avec la latitude et sa contribution à la couche d’aérosols sulfatés sont présentées. La contribution des VSLS bromées au brome de la stratosphère est une question en cours de résolution. Leur chimie au cours de leur transport dans l’atmosphère est décrite de manière détaillée. / Ozone depletion is a complex subject involving several processes starting by the emission of the sources gases (SGs) in the lower troposphere. Recently the VSLS (very short lived substances) have been identified as potential SGs. However they do not have a lifetime long enough to reach directly the stratosphere. During the transport, the VSLS undergo degradation leading to products gases (PGs). The SGs and PGs of the VSLS reach the stratosphere in the Tropical region where a rapid vertical transport occurs, the convection. The SGs with longer lifetime can reach the stratosphere by any transport pathway from the location of their emissions. Once in stratosphere the SGs and PGs will be converted into reactive species able to deplete ozone. This thesis presents the study of the several steps occurring before the ozone depletion: SGs emission, SGs and PGs transport into the atmosphere, the chemical degradation occurring during their transport and finally their contribution to the ozone depletion. First, chemical tracers, as CO, are used to highlight the main pathways from the troposphere to the stratosphere. Then two studies of two different types of species entering in the process of ozone destruction are presented: for OCS (carbonyl sulfide) and the brominated VSLS (CHBr3 et CH2Br2). OCS is one of the sulfate aerosols precursors catalyzing the ozone depletion. However, OCS contribution to this layer has some uncertainties. OCS emission sources, the latitude repartition and the contribution to the sulfate aerosols are presented. The contribution of the brominated VSLS to the stratospheric bromine is a key issue that being almost resolved. The brominated VSLS chemical degradation during the atmospheric transport will be described in detail.

L’étude de la pollution troposphérique inclut l’étude des gaz traces provenant de sources anthropiquesdiverses, dont l’impact varie de l’échelle locale à globale. Pour caractériser cette pollution, il est nécessairede mesurer avec précision les concentrations en polluants. Dans le cadre de projets européens, troiscampagnes aéroportées ont été conduites, dans le bassin méditerranéen, en Afrique de l’ouest et enMalaisie, pour mesurer différents types de polluants grâce, entre autres, à un spectromètre à lasersinfrarouges, SPIRIT, capable de mesurer rapidement en ligne de faibles variations de NO2 et CO. Les jeuxde données de ces gaz traces (et d’autres) ont été combinés avec un modèle lagrangien de dispersion departicules, FLEXPART, pour identifier différentes sources de pollution locales et régionales de l’air. Cettethèse présente ainsi les mesures et le travail de modélisation entrepris afin de définir les sources depollution de chaque région. Il a été montré que le bassin méditerranéen a été impacté, de la moyenne à lahaute troposphère pendant l’été, par des émissions de feux de biomasse venant de Sibérie et du continentnord-américain. Les régions ouest-africaine et malaisienne sont aussi impactées par des émissions de feuxde biomasse transportées depuis l’Afrique centrale dans le premier cas, et de feux locaux dans le second.En outre, ces régions sont influencées par des émissions provenant de l’exploitation du pétrole et du traficmaritime. FLEXPART a été utilisé afin d’identifier l’origine des pics de pollution mesurés au cours descampagnes. Nous avons ainsi montré que les conditions atmosphériques, qui définissent la hauteurd’injection du panache de la plateforme pétrolière, ainsi que le flux d’émission sont des paramètres clésdans la caractérisation des mesures par le modèle. / The study of tropospheric pollution includes the study of trace gases coming from various anthropogenicsources that can impact scales ranging from local to global. To characterise this pollution, it is necessary tobe able to measure with precision pollutant concentrations. Within the frame of European projects, threeairborne campaigns in the Mediterranean Basin, in West Africa and in Malaysia were conducted to measuredifferent types of pollutants thanks to, among others, an infrared laser spectrometer, SPIRIT, able to rapidlymeasure on-line small variations in NO2 and CO. The data sets of these trace gases (and others) have beencombined with a Lagrangian model of particle dispersion, FLEXPART, to fingerprint different sources of localand regional air pollution. Thus, this thesis presents the measurements and the modelling work undertakenin order to define the sources of pollution of each region. It has been shown that the Mediterranean Basinwas impacted, in the mid to upper troposphere during summer, by biomass burning emissions coming fromSiberia and the Northern American continent. West African and Malaysian regions are also impacted bybiomass burning emissions transported from central Africa in the first case, and from local fires in thesecond. In addition, those regions are influenced by emissions coming from oil exploitation and maritimetraffic. FLEXPART was used in order to identify the origin of the pollution peaks measured during thecampaigns. It has been shown that atmospheric conditions, which define the injection height of the oilplatform plume, and also the emission flux are key parameters in the characterisation of the measurementsby the model.