Investigation of temporal-spatial parameters of an urban heat island on the basis of passive microwave remote sensing

Summary Quantitative measurements of the impact of an urban environment on the thermal state of the atmospheric boundary layer are presented. Temperature profiles up to the height of 600 m were obtained in a continuous series of measurements by three microwave profilers MTP-5 located in different areas of Moscow. The influence of this large city on urban heat island (UHI) parameters was estimated on occasions with stationary atmospheric processes and during cases with frontal passage. Two types of UHI were identified: one with a dome of urban warmth at all levels, and another with a low warm dome in combination with a lens of cold air above.     

The Effect of the Solar Eclipse of March 29, 2006 on Atmospheric Pressure Fluctuations and Surface Temperature Profiles

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - The data of measurements of atmospheric pressure fluctuations together with measurements of air temperature profiles in the surface layer of the...     

Influence of a high aerosol concentration on the thermal structure of the atmospheric boundary layer

The influence of increased concentrations of submicron aerosol produced by forest fires on thermal characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) in Moscow and its remote vicinity (the town of Zvenigorod) are analyzed on the basis of regular remote measurements of the ABL temperature profile with the use of MTP-5 profilers. In the air basin of a large city, additional aerosol and accompanying pollutants in early morning hours (at small heights of the Sun) most frequently did not cause substantial changes in the ABL thermal structure. In the locality remote from the megalopolis (Zvenigorod), the atmospheric pollution by aerosol led to noticeable changes in the ABL thermal characteristics. Especially strong changes were observed in the daytime, during the maximum supply of solar radiation. In morning hours, the heating rate of the lower 100-m layer of the polluted air exceeded the heating rate of a relatively pure air by more than one degree. In higher layers, the differences between the rates of temperature changes in a relatively clean atmosphere and in an atmosphere polluted by aerosol (in the suburb) were insignificant.     

Eclipse effects in the atmospheric boundary layer

The influence of a solar eclipse on solar-radiation fluxes, meteorological parameters, turbulence characteristics, and vertical temperature profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer is analyzed. Air-temperature variations caused by an eclipse and time delays of these variations with respect to the onset of the total-eclipse phase in the atmospheric surface and boundary layers are determined. The influence of a solar eclipse on the turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent heat flux, and variance and spectral density of the power of air-temperature pulsations are estimated. Variations in aerosol parameters and concentrations of light ions during a total solar eclipse are discussed.     

Quantitative estimates of disturbances contributed by a megalopolis to the temperature field of the atmospheric boundary layer

Seasonal and diurnal variations in the temperature of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are analyzed, and the features of spatial and temporal variations in ABL temperature that are caused by the influence of a megalopolis are revealed. The gradients of air temperature for the megalopolis, its vicinity, and background conditions are compared. A multiplicative model of the seasonal diurnal variability of ABL temperature is constructed, and the relative frequencies of unstable ABL-temperature stratification are studied.     

Study of urban heat island inhomogeneity in Nizhni Novgorod on the basis of a mobile atmospheric temperature profiler

Results of the study of the urban heat island over Nizhni Novgorod on the basis of data from mobile and stationary microwave temperature profilers are presented. The stationary temperature profiler MTP-5 was installed in the city center. The profiler provides continuous temperature measurements in the altitude range from 0 to 600 m with accuracy 0.5°C and with the cycle of measurement 5 min. The mobile version of the MTP-5 instrument (MMTP-5) provides measurements at 17 points including 11 inside the city and 6 in the suburb. Measurements were taken under anticyclone conditions mostly at night and in the morning on August 6 and 7, September 1, and October 16–18, 2004.     

Peculiarities of Stratospheric Temperature Stratification Measurements by the Microwave Radiometry Method

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - In this paper, we consider the peculiarities of using the microwave radiometry method for remote sensing of the thermal stratification of the high...