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Studying Urban Climate and Air Quality in the Alps: The Innsbruck Atmospheric Observatory

T. Karl,A. Gohm,M. Rotach,H. C. Ward,M. Graus,A. Cede,G. Wohlfahrt,A. Hammerle,M. Haid,Martin Tiefengraber,C. Lamprecht,J. Vergeiner,A. Kreuter,Jochen Wagner,M. Staudinger

Published 2020 in Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS)

ABSTRACT

The Innsbruck Atmospheric Observatory (IAO) aims to investigate atmospheric chemistry, micrometeorology, and mountain meteorology in a synergistic fashion within an urban setting. A new measurement supersite has been established in order to study processes affecting the exchange of momentum, energy, trace gases, and aerosols in an Alpine urban environment. Various long-term continuous measurements are augmented by frequent focused research campaigns with state-of-the-art instrumentation, linking different classes of data and addressing significant gaps in scientific data availability for urban environments. Current activities seek to address research objectives related to the urban heat island, trace gas emissions, the influence of foehn on air quality, and the atmospheric distribution of trace gases and aerosols in a mountainous city. We present initial results from long-term operations and first highlights from two intensive operational phases, showing that 1) the exchange of greenhouse gas emissions is dominated by anthropogenic activities and is driven by location-specific venting of street canyon air; 2) foehn events significantly perturb the photostationary state indicative for an extensive and rapid airmass exchange of the valley atmosphere; 3) the temporal distribution of pollutants is often decoupled from their emissions and primarily modulated by mountain boundary layer dynamics; 4) we can detect a large number of volatile chemical products in the urban atmosphere, which can be used to fingerprint anthropogenic emission sources; and 5) the first urban carbonyl sulfide (COS) flux measurements point toward anthropogenic emission sources.

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2020

  • Venue

    Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS)

  • Publication date

    2020-04-01

  • Fields of study

    Environmental Science

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.1175/bams-d-19-0270.1
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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