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Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences

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A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 33926

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Prof. Dr. Anthony R. Lupo

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Guest Editor

Department of Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric Science, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: dynamic meteorology; synoptic meteorology; climate dynamics; climate variability
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Dr. Chris G. Tzanis

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Guest Editor

Section of Environmental Physics and Meteorology, Department of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Campus, 157 84 Athens, Greece
Interests: climate dynamics; climate physics; climate change and variability; aerosols; ambient air quality; ozone-climate interactions; atmospheric physics and chemistry; nonlinear processes; artificial intelligence and machine learning; remote sensing
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Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences (https://ecas2020.sciforum.net/), to be held 16–30 November 2020. We are looking forward to seeing you at our event. A Special Issue will publish selected papers from the Proceedings volume associated with our event on sciforum.net, an online platform for hosting scholarly e-conferences and discussion groups.

In this edition, we welcome contributions from a variety of subject areas, including aerosols, air quality, air quality and human health, climatology, meteorology, biometeorology, atmospheric techniques, instrumentation, numerical modelling, biosphere/hydrosphere/land–atmosphere interactions, the upper atmosphere, and planetary atmospheres. Given that the COVID-19 crisis has impacted many facets of society, contributions related to human health or environmental impact from this pandemic are especially welcome. The papers that will be considered for publication are those that attracted the most interest on the web or that provide innovative contributions. These papers will be subject to peer review, and are published with the aim of the rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications. It is our hope that this conference will present new and useful developments related to all areas of the atmospheric sciences. The scientific committee cordially welcome you all, and we look forward to your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Anthony R. Lupo
Dr. Chris G. Tzanis
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

Aerosols
air quality
air quality and human health
climatology; meteorology
biometeorology
atmospheric techniques, instrumentation, and modelling
biosphere/hydrosphere/land–atmosphere interactions
upper atmosphere
planetary atmospheres

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2627 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Probabilistic Forecast of Low Level Wind Shear of Gimpo, Gimhae, Incheon and Jeju International Airports Using Ensemble Model Output Statistics

by Hee-Wook Choi, Yeon-Hee Kim, Keunhee Han and Chansoo Kim

Atmosphere 2021, 12(12), 1643; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12121643 - 8 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2202

Abstract

Wind shear can occur at all flight levels; however, it is particularly dangerous at low levels, from the ground up to approximately 2000 feet. If this phenomenon can occur during the take-off and landing of an aircraft, it may interfere with the normal altitude change of the aircraft, causing delay and cancellation of the aircraft, as well as economic damage. In this paper, to estimate the probabilistic forecasts of low-level wind shear at Gimpo, Gimhae, Incheon and Jeju International Airports, an Ensemble Model Output Statistics (EMOS) model based on a left-truncated normal distribution with a cutoff zero was applied. Observations were obtained from Gimpo, Gimhae, Incheon and Jeju International Airports and 13 ensemble member forecasts generated from the Limited-Area Ensemble Prediction System (LENS), for the period December 2018 to February 2020. Prior to applying to EMOS models, statistical consistency was analyzed by using a rank histogram and kernel density estimation to identify the uniformity of ensembles with corresponding observations. Performances were evaluated by mean absolute error, continuous ranked probability score and probability integral transform. The results showed that probabilistic forecasts obtained from the EMOS model exhibited better prediction skills when compared to the raw ensembles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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30 pages, 3341 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Global Clear-Sky Aerosol Speciated Direct Radiative Effects over 40 Years (1980–2019)

by Marios-Bruno Korras-Carraca, Antonis Gkikas, Christos Matsoukas and Nikolaos Hatzianastassiou

Atmosphere 2021, 12(10), 1254; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12101254 - 27 Sep 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3270 | Correction

Abstract

We assess the 40-year climatological clear-sky global direct radiative effect (DRE) of five main aerosol types using the MERRA-2 reanalysis and a spectral radiative transfer model (FORTH). The study takes advantage of aerosol-speciated, spectrally and vertically resolved optical properties over the period 1980–2019, to accurately determine the aerosol DREs, emphasizing the attribution of the total DREs to each aerosol type. The results show that aerosols radiatively cool the Earth’s surface and heat its atmosphere by 7.56 and 2.35 Wm⁻², respectively, overall cooling the planet by 5.21 Wm⁻², partly counterbalancing the anthropogenic greenhouse global warming during 1980–2019. These DRE values differ significantly in terms of magnitude, and even sign, among the aerosol types (sulfate and black carbon aerosols cool and heat the planet by 1.88 and 0.19 Wm⁻², respectively), the hemispheres (larger NH than SH values), the surface cover type (larger land than ocean values) or the seasons (larger values in local spring and summer), while considerable inter-decadal changes are evident. These DRE differences are even larger by up to an order of magnitude on a regional scale, highlighting the important role of the aerosol direct radiative effect for local and global climate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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24 pages, 5103 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Evaluation of SLINE 1.0, a Line Source Dispersion Model for Gaseous Pollutants by Incorporating Wind Shear Near the Ground under Stable and Unstable Atmospheric Conditions

by Saisantosh Vamshi Harsha Madiraju and Ashok Kumar

Atmosphere 2021, 12(5), 618; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12050618 - 11 May 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2525

Abstract

Transportation sources are a major contributor to air pollution in urban areas, and the role of air quality modeling is vital in the formulation of air pollution control and management strategies. Many models have appeared in the literature to estimate near-field ground level concentrations from mobile sources moving on a highway. However, current models do not account explicitly for the effect of wind shear (magnitude) near the ground while computing the ground level concentrations near highways from mobile sources. This study presents an analytical model (SLINE 1.0) based on the solution of the convective–diffusion equation by incorporating the wind shear near the ground for gaseous pollutants. The dispersion coefficients for stable and unstable atmospheric conditions are based on the near-field parameterization. Initial vertical dispersion coefficient due to the wake effect of mobile sources is incorporated based on a literature review. The model inputs include emission factor, wind speed, wind direction, turbulence parameters, and terrain features. The model is evaluated based on the Idaho Falls field study (2008). The performance of the model is evaluated using several statistical parameters. Results indicate that the model performs well against this dataset in predicting concentrations under both the stable and unstable atmospheric conditions. The sensitivity of the model to compute ground-level concentrations for different inputs is presented for three different downwind distances. In general, the model shows Type III sensitivity (i.e., the errors in the input will show a corresponding change in the computed ground level concentrations) for most of the input variables using the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) method. However, some recalibration of the model constants is needed using several field datasets to make sure that the model is acceptable for computing ground-level concentrations in engineering applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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15 pages, 4585 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Current Trend of Carbon Emissions from Wildfires in Siberia

by Evgenii Ponomarev, Nikita Yakimov, Tatiana Ponomareva, Oleg Yakubailik and Susan G. Conard

Atmosphere 2021, 12(5), 559; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12050559 - 26 Apr 2021

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 6373

Abstract

Smoke from wildfires in Siberia often affects air quality over vast territories of the Northern hemisphere during the summer. Increasing fire emissions also affect regional and global carbon balance. To estimate annual carbon emissions from wildfires in Siberia from 2002–2020, we categorized levels of fire intensity for individual active fire pixels based on fire radiative power data from the standard MODIS product (MOD14/MYD14). For the last two decades, estimated annual direct carbon emissions from wildfires varied greatly, ranging from 20–220 Tg C per year. Sporadic maxima were observed in 2003 (>150 Tg C/year), in 2012 (>220 Tg C/year), in 2019 (~180 Tg C/year). However, the 2020 fire season was extraordinary in terms of fire emissions (~350 Tg C/year). The estimated average annual level of fire emissions was 80 ± 20 Tg C/year when extreme years were excluded from the analysis. For the next decade the average level of fire emissions might increase to 250 ± 30 Tg C/year for extreme fire seasons, and to 110 ± 20 Tg C/year for moderate fire seasons. However, under the extreme IPCC RPC 8.5 scenario for Siberia, wildfire emissions might increase to 1200–1500 Tg C/year by 2050 if there were no significant changes in patterns of vegetation distribution and fuel loadings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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20 pages, 3198 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wind Energy Assessment during High-Impact Winter Storms in Southwestern Europe

by Ana Gonçalves, Margarida L. R. Liberato and Raquel Nieto

Atmosphere 2021, 12(4), 509; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12040509 - 17 Apr 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3430

Abstract

The electricity produced through renewable resources is dependent on the variability of weather conditions and, thus, on the availability of the resource, as is the case with wind energy. This study aims to assess the wind resource available and the wind energy potential (WEP) during the December months for the three years 2017, 2018, and 2019, in southwestern Europe, when several high-impact storms affected the region. Additionally, a comparison of Prandtl’s logarithmic law and Power-law equations for extrapolation of the vertical wind profile is performed for onshore conditions, to evaluate the differences in terms of energy production, with the use of different equations. To assess the effect of the strong winds associated with the storms, 10 m wind components are used, with a 6-hourly temporal resolution, for the December months over the southwestern Europe region (30° N–65° N; 40° W–25° E). Results are compared to the climatology (1981–2010) and show an increase of wind intensity of 1.86 m·s⁻¹ in southwestern Europe during December 2019, and a decrease up to 2.72 m·s⁻¹ in December 2018. WEP is calculated for the selected wind turbine, 4 MW E-126 EP3—ENERCON, as well as the values following the wind resource record, that is, (i) higher values in December 2019 in the offshore and onshore regions, reaching 35 MWh and 20 MWh per day, respectively, and (ii) lower values in December 2018, with 35 MWh and 15 MWh per day for offshore and onshore. Differences in WEP when using the two equations for extrapolation of wind vertical profile reached 60% (40%) in offshore (onshore) regions, except for the Alps, where differences of up to 80% were reached. An additional analysis was made to understand the influence of the coefficients of soil roughness and friction used in each equation (Prandtl’s logarithmic law and Power-law), for the different conditions of onshore and offshore. Finally, it is notable that the highest values of wind energy production occurred on the stormy days affecting southwestern Europe. Therefore, we conclude that these high-impact storms had a positive effect on the wind energy production in this region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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10 pages, 905 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Addressing Missing Environmental Data via a Machine Learning Scheme

by Chris G. Tzanis, Anastasios Alimissis and Ioannis Koutsogiannis

Atmosphere 2021, 12(4), 499; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12040499 - 15 Apr 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2327

Abstract

An important aspect in environmental sciences is the study of air quality, using statistical methods (environmental statistics) which utilize large datasets of climatic parameters. The air-quality-monitoring networks that operate in urban areas provide data on the most important pollutants, which, via environmental statistics, can be used for the development of continuous surfaces of pollutants’ concentrations. Generating ambient air-quality maps can help guide policy makers and researchers to formulate measures to minimize the adverse effects. The information needed for a mapping application can be obtained by employing spatial interpolation methods to the available data, for generating estimations of air-quality distributions. This study used point-monitoring data from the network of stations that operates in Athens, Greece. A machine-learning scheme was applied as a method to spatially estimate pollutants’ concentrations, and the results can be effectively used to implement missing values and provide representative data for statistical analyses purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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13 pages, 3612 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Kinetic Energy in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer from Minisodar Measurements

by Alexander Potekaev, Liudmila Shamanaeva and Valentina Kulagina

Atmosphere 2021, 12(4), 421; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12040421 - 25 Mar 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2152

Abstract

Spatiotemporal dynamics of the atmospheric kinetic energy and its components caused by the ordered and turbulent motions of air masses are estimated from minisodar measurements of three velocity vector components and their variances within the lowest 5–200 m layer of the atmosphere, with a particular emphasis on the turbulent kinetic energy. The layered structure of the total atmospheric kinetic energy has been established. From the diurnal hourly dynamics of the altitude profiles of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) retrieved from minisodar data, four layers are established by the character of the altitude TKE dependence, namely, the near-ground layer, the surface layer, the layer with a linear TKE increase, and the transitive layer above. In the first layer, the most significant changes of the TKE were observed in the evening hours. In the second layer, no significant changes in the TKE values were observed. A linear increase in the TKE values with altitude was observed in the third layer. In the fourth layer, the TKE slightly increased with altitude and exhibited variations during the entire observation period. The altitudes of the upper boundaries of these layers depended on the time of day. The MKE values were much less than the corresponding TKE values, they did not exceed 50 m²/s². From two to four MKE layers were distinguished based on the character of its altitude dependence. The two-layer structures were observed in the evening and at night (under conditions of the stable atmospheric boundary layer). In the morning and daytime, the four-layer MKE structures with intermediate layers of linear increase and subsequent decrease in the MKE values were observed. Our estimates demonstrated that the TKE contribution to the total atmospheric kinetic energy considerably (by a factor of 2.5–3) exceeded the corresponding MKE contribution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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17 pages, 8027 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Testing the Drop-Size Distribution-Based Separation of Stratiform and Convective Rain Using Radar and Disdrometer Data from a Mid-Latitude Coastal Region

by Merhala Thurai, Viswanathan Bringi, David Wolff, David Marks and Charanjit Pabla

Atmosphere 2021, 12(3), 392; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12030392 - 17 Mar 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2855

Abstract

Stratiform and convective rain are associated with different microphysical processes and generally produce drop-size distributions (DSDs) with different characteristics. Previous studies using data from (a) a tropical coastal location, (b) a mid-latitude continental location with semi-arid climate, and (c) a sub-tropical continental location, found that the two rain types could be separated in the N_W–D_m space, where D_m is the mass-weighted mean diameter and N_W is the normalized intercept parameter. In this paper, we investigate the same separation technique using data and observations from a mid-latitude coastal region. Three-minute DSDs from disdrometer measurements are used for the N_W- versus D_m-based classification and are compared with simultaneous observations from an S-band polarimetric radar 38 km away from the disdrometer site. Specifically, RHI (range-height indicator) scans over the disdrometer were used for confirmation. Results show that there was no need to modify the separation criteria from previous studies. Three-minute DSDs from the same location were used as input to scattering calculations to derive retrieval equations for N_W and D_m for the S-band radar using an improved technique and applied to the RHI scans to identify convective and stratiform rain regions. Two events are shown as illustrative examples. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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16 pages, 23196 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Study of Meteorological Factors for Tropospheric Nocturnal Ozone Increase in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo

by Viviana Vanesa Urbina Guerrero, Marcos Vinicius Bueno de Morais, Edmilson Dias de Freitas and Leila Droprinchinski Martins

Atmosphere 2021, 12(2), 287; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12020287 - 23 Feb 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2234

Abstract

One of the central problems in large cities is air pollution, mainly caused by vehicular emissions. Tropospheric ozone is an atmospheric oxidizing gas that forms in minimal amounts naturally, affecting peoples’ health. This pollutant is formed by the NO₂ photolysis, creating a main peak during the day. Nighttime secondary peaks occur in several parts of the world, but their intensity and frequency depend on the local condition. In this sense, this works aims to study the local characteristics for tropospheric nocturnal ozone levels in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo, in Brazil, using the Simple Photochemical Module coupled to the Brazilian Developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. For this, three different situations of nocturnal occurrence were studied. The results show that the nocturnal maximum of ozone concentrations is related to the vertical transport of this pollutant from higher levels of the atmosphere to the surface and is not related to the synoptic condition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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15 pages, 2056 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dry and Wet Climate Periods over Eastern South America: Identification and Characterization through the SPEI Index

by Anita Drumond, Milica Stojanovic, Raquel Nieto, Luis Gimeno, Margarida L. R. Liberato, Theotonio Pauliquevis, Marina Oliveira and Tercio Ambrizzi

Atmosphere 2021, 12(2), 155; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12020155 - 26 Jan 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4155

Abstract

A large part of the population and the economic activities of South America are located in eastern regions of the continent, where extreme climate events are a recurrent phenomenon. This study identifies and characterizes the dry and wet climate periods at domain-scale occurring over the eastern South America (ESA) during 1980–2018 through the multi-scalar Standardized Precipitation–Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). For this study, the spatial extent of ESA was defined according to a Lagrangian approach for moisture analysis. It consists of the major continental sink of the moisture transported from the South Atlantic Ocean throughout the year, comprising the Amazonia, central Brazil, and the southeastern continental areas. The SPEI for 1, 3, 6, and 12 months of accumulation was calculated using monthly precipitation and potential evapotranspiration time series averaged on ESA. The analysis of the climate periods followed two different approaches: classification of the monthly SPEI values as mild, moderate, severe, and extreme; the computation of the events and their respective parameters (duration, severity, intensity, and peak). The results indicate that wet periods prevailed in the 1990s and 2000s, while dry conditions predominated in the 2010s, when the longest and more severe dry events have been identified at the four scales. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the Third International Electronic Conference on Atmospheric Sciences)

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