Assessment of boundary layer variations in the Tampa Bay Area during the Bay Region Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (BRACE)

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), using the NOAA Twin Otter aircraft, made meteorological and chemical measurements during 21 flights in May 2002 in and around the Tampa Bay, Florida area as part of the Bay Region Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (BRACE). One or more vertical profiles were flown during each flight both over land and over the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA's Environmental Technology Laboratory (ETL; now part of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL)) deployed three surface-based 915-MHz radar wind profilers equipped with radio acoustic sounding systems (RASS) at Ruskin, Sydney, and St. Petersburg. The National Weather Service Office in Tampa (NWS/TBW) released rawinsondes twice daily from the Ruskin site. The measurements of temperature, dew point, potential temperature, ozone, and condensation nuclei acquired during the aircraft profiles are analyzed, and in combination with the profiler and sounding data, are used to determine the structure of the boundary layer over the Tampa Bay region and the temporal and spatial changes that occurred in that structure during representative flights.