Field studies of transport and dispersion of atmospheric tracers in nocturnal drainage flows

Abstract A series of tracer experiments were carried out as part of the Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) program to evaluate pollutant transport and dispersion characteristics of nocturnal drainage flows within a valley in northern California. The results indicate that the degree of interaction of the drainage flows with the larger scale regional flows are strongly dependent on how well the shallow drainage flows are shielded by the surrounding topography from the external environment. For the valley under study, the drainage flows from about mid-slope elevations and below were generally decoupled from the externally generated flows; as evidenced by the similarity of the surface tracer distributions produced during widely varying regional flow conditions. However, tracers released immediately above the drainage flows near the ridge top did reveal considerable mixing between the transition layer flows and the underlying surface drainage flows. Likewise, the transport and dispersion of the tracers at elevated heights within the valley basin were extremely dependent on the influences of the regional scale flows on the valley circulations. The dispersion rates associated with the transition layer flows were dependent on topographic constraints but were appreciably higher than those reported for homogeneous flat terrain situations.