Study of the Atmospheric Transport of Sea-Spray Aerosols in a Coastal Zone Using a High-Resolution Model

Abstract

Fine-scale models for the transport of marine aerosols are of great interest for the study of micro-climates and air quality in areas of complex topography, such as in urbanized coastal areas. To this end, the MIO laboratory implemented the Meso-NH model in its LES version over the northwest Mediterranean coastal zone using a recent sea-spray source function. Simulated meteorological parameters and aerosol concentrations are compared to experimental data acquired in the Mediterranean coastal zone in spring 2008 on board the R/V Atalante. Key findings indicate that the large eddy simulation (LES) mode closely matches with the experimental data, enabling an in-depth analysis of the numerical model ability to predict variations in aerosol concentrations. These variations are influenced by different wind directions, which lead to various fetch distances typical of coastal zones.

Keywords

• sea-spray source function
• fetch
• coastal aerosols
• atmospheric modeling