Local meteorological features affecting chemical measurements at a North Atlantic coastal site

Abstract

One of the foci of the North Atlantic Regional Experiment (NARE) 1993 summer intensive campaign was Chebogue Point, approximately 10 km south of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Measurements were taken at this site with a 915‐MHz boundary layer wind profiler, the Canadian Twin Otter and National Center for Atmospheric Research King Air aircraft, and a variety of surface instruments. This paper discusses features observed in the meteorological measurements and the implications of those features for the interpretation of chemical measurements. The meteorology of this coastal site is complex. A strong surface‐based temperature inversion was almost always present, producing strong layering in the lower atmosphere. As a result, surface chemistry measurements were not often representative of the state of the overlying atmosphere. A low‐level jet was also frequently present. A variety of turbulence structures were observed by the profiler, including convective boundary layers and complex layering. Ozone concentrations above 60 parts per billion at the surface occurred on four occasions late in August, in conjunction with strong stability and winds off the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Maine). Ozone levels of more than 60 ppbv were observed by the aircraft at altitudes between 400 and 1600 m on five other occasions earlier in the month. Particular (but not necessarily unusual) combinations of transport, mixing, and source conditions appear to be required to produce ozone episodes at Chebogue Point.