On the transport of chemically reactive pollutants over urban roughness in the atmospheric boundary layer

Abstract

1. INTRODUCTION: Elevated pollutant concentrations are commonly observed in urban areas, such as street canyons, threatening human health. While most practical dispersion models assume inert pollutants, emissions from traffic exhaust are chemically reactive. Their dynamics are further complicated by atmospheric turbulence, geometry/orientation of buildings, thermal stratification and chemical kinetics, etc. Reactive flue gases, including nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are among the most important pollutants that would cause a series of public health problems (Cheng et al., 2013, Mahiyuddin et al. 2013). There is thus a need for improved understanding of the dynamics of chemically reactive pollutants. In this paper, turbulent dispersion of reactive …