Mesoscale processes and photo-oxidant cycles on the Spanish Mediterranean coast
- Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterraneo, Valencia (Spain)
Experimental evidence accumulated to 1986 had shown that air quality problems in Southern Europe were governed by meso-meteorological processes with marked diurnal cycles and space scales of tens of km. Starting in 1979, COSPEC tracking of tall stack plumes in several regions of Spain in summer had also indicated that the formation of thermal lows was associated with the convergence of surface winds from the coast towards the interior of the peninsula and with high levels of O{sub 3} along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Those observations also raised the prospect of large scale convection over the central plateau, as a continuity to the observed convergence, and compensatory subsidence over the surrounding seas. Interpretation of this data confirmed the diurnal cycles of the processes involved, and extended the awareness of their space scale from tens to a few hundreds of km, or more. This evidence also formed the basis for the first EC scientific efforts focused on Mediterranean air pollution dynamics. The MECAPIP project was aimed to study the origin and evolution of the atmospheric circulations responsible for the observed behavior, and to document their relevance over the Iberian Peninsula and the Western Mediterranean basin as a whole. The RECAPMA and SECAP projects followed in 1990 and 1992. The purpose of this article is to review some of their findings.
- OSTI ID:
- 422961
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960127-; TRN: IM9707%%268
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 9. joint American Meteorological Society/Air and Waste Management Association conference on applications of air pollution meteorology, Atlanta, GA (United States), 28 Jan - 2 Feb 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1996]; Related Information: Is Part Of Ninth joint conference on applications of air pollution meteorology with A and WMA; PB: 672 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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