Author(s)

R. Bornstein, P. Thunis & G. Schayes

Abstract

Invited Paper Simulation of urban barrier effects on polluted urban boundary layers using the three-dimensional URBMET/TVM model with urban topography — new results from New York City R. Bornstein," P. Thunis,* G. Schayes' "Department of Meteorology, San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA ^Environmental Institute, European Community Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy ^Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Catholic University, Louvain La Neuve, Belgium ABSTRACT Urban areas affect prevailing mesoscale and syn- optic flow patterns due to a variety of physical pro- cesses, including urban heat island induced acceler- ations, surface roughness induced decelerations, and building barrier effects. Analysis of data collected over New York City (NYC) has shown that the city is capable of significantly altering mesoscale and syn- optic flows fields. The urban barrier effect is the most significant factor altering such flows over NYC.

Keywords