Author(s)

S.D. Wright, L. Elliott, D.B. Ingham & M.J.C. Hewson

Abstract

The direction of transportation of airborne pollutants is directly affected by their ability to penetrate vertically upwards into the atmosphere. Many processes, such as the density stratification within the atmospheric boundary-layer, and the buoyancy associated with the emitted pollutant, will assist or inhibit the vertical motion of the pollutant. In this paper the inducement of vertical fluid flows within the atmospheric boundary-layer, by a change in surface roughness, is considered. These fluid flows may assist the upwards vertical motion of the pollutants and hence, through the action of the Coriolis force, affect the direction of transport of the pollutant. It is shown that a small change in surface roughness induces vertical fluid flow in all

Keywords