MODELING THE EFFECTS OF URBAN HEAT ISLANDS GENERATED MESOSCALE WIND ON AIR POLLUTION DISPERSION IN A PATCHY ATMOSPHERE

The paper presents a steady-state two-dimensional mathematical model to study the dispersion of air pollutants continuously emitting from a point source in a patchy atmosphere. The first patch, which extends to some downwind distance from the source (present in first patch), is the urban center, whereas the second patch is its adjacent countryside. For simulating the effects of urban heat islands on pollutant distribution, a local mesoscale wind is introduced in the first patch along with the usual large-scale wind. Keeping in mind the real-life situations, the meteorological, deposition, and removal parameters are taken to be different in different patches. The concentration of pollutants in both the patches has been computed under different stability conditions of the atmosphere through finite difference scheme. The results of the model show that the urban heat island (mesoscale wind) has a tremendous impact on air pollution distribution, both over the urban center as well as its adjacent countryside (rural). The model solutions also reveal about the concentration distribution of pollutants in different parts of the atmosphere in different atmospheric conditions.