Abstract
It is known, both from theory and experience, that the release of toxic gases into the stable planetary boundary layer (PBL) is a worst-case-scenario, yet it is under these conditions that conventional diffusion theory and modeling are most uncertain. The primary cause of this uncertainty is the tendency for turbulence in the stable PBL to be both sporadic and intermittent. The stability of the PBL often breaks down, resulting in bursts of heat, momentum, and pollutants at the ground surface. Nappo (1991) studied these breakdowns over simple and complex surfaces and concluded that most of the nighttime exchanges between the ground surface and the free atmosphere occur during these breakdown events. If short-term dispersion models are to be advanced to account for these turbulence episodes, then the physical mechanisms of these events must be understood.
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