Observed and WRF-Simulated Low-Level Winds in a High-Ozone Episode during the Central California Ozone Study

Abstract A case study is carried out for the 29 July–3 August 2000 episode of the Central California Ozone Study (CCOS), a typical summertime high-ozone event in the Central Valley of California. The focus of the study is on the low-level winds that control the transport and dispersion of pollutants in the Central Valley. An analysis of surface and wind profiler observations from the CCOS field experiment indicates a number of important low-level flows in the Central Valley: 1) the incoming low-level marine airflow through the Carquinez Strait into the Sacramento River delta, 2) the diurnal cycle of upslope–downslope flows, 3) the up- and down-valley flow in the Sacramento Valley, 4) the nocturnal low-level jet in the San Joaquin Valley, and 5) the orographically induced mesoscale eddies (the Fresno and Schultz eddies). A numerical simulation using the advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) reproduces the overall pattern of the observed low-level flows. The physical ...