Abstract

Over the last two decades, Mexico City, like many large industrial and populous urban areas, has developed a serious air pollution problem, especially during the winter months. In February of 1991, a major measurements campaign was carried out in an attempt to gather sufficient information to allow a basic understanding of the meteorological processes that dominate the behavior of the atmosphere above the valley in which Mexico City is located. In addition to standard EPA ground based instrumentation designed to measure the concentration of major pollutants, numerous advanced measurement techniques were deployed including : tethersonde instrumentation, real-time infrared vehicle emission monitors, an aircraft laboratory and a mobile LIDAR system for aerosol characterization. The focus of this report is on the data obtained with the LIDAR system with regards to the spatial and temporal distribution of aerosol particles observed during high air pollution periods. The main LIDAR objective was to characterize aerosol layer formation/destruction and plume transport and dispersal.

© 1991 Optical Society of America