Sodar mixing height estimates and air pollution characteristics over a Mediterranean big city

Sodar systems are progressively used for quantitative and qualitative profile information on the atmospheric structure parameters. However, there is still a need for well-established relations between atmospheric physics parameters and air quality patterns, especially in urban environments. In this respect it is of importance to investigate the correlations among specific atmospheric quantities and air pollution patterns. It is the purpose of this paper to study correlations between the Sodar produced mixing height using the most recent and accurate methods, and O3, NOx and CO concentrations recorded by the Athens air quality monitoring network, during selected meteorological conditions. The continuous mixing height monitoring allows for deeper investigation of air pollution characteristics, especially during the transitional periods of the day. The obtained results indicate that there is good correlation between the pollutants concentrations and the mixing height especially during episode days. Furthermore, it is indicated that there is a strong dependence between the rate of increase of the mixing height and the concentration levels in the early morning hours as well as during the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) collapse in the afternoon. These results are of importance for urban air pollution modelling, which has recently attracted the attention of many research groups.