| Description |
This study analyzes thermally driven diurnal mountain winds and how these winds transport ozone within Red Butte Canyon, a small tributary canyon to the Salt Lake Valley basin. These winds dominate under synoptically calm conditions when differential heating between the mountain valley and the surrounding plain causes a pressure gradient force driving the circulation. During the summer, these thermally driven flows are common in Red Butter Canyon along with ozone production in the adjacent Salt Lake Valley. The goal of this study is to quantify the transport of ozone within Red Butte Canyon due to thermally driven diurnal Mountain winds. Datasets used include meteorological observations available via MesoWest and Doppler Wind LiDar data collected near the mouth of Red Butte Canyon that were analyzed through graphics created in Python programming. A period from May 2020 to October 202 was chosen because of the common ozone development in the spring and diurnal mountain flows in the summer. A period of data from July 30th, 2020 to August 2nd, 2020 was further analyzed as a case study. This time period was chosen because of the well-developed diurnal mountain winds and high ozone concentrations. For this period, valley mass flux was calculated based on LiDAR-derived vertical profiles of the along-canyon winds. Finally, this estimated mass flux was combined with surface-based ozone concentrations to provide information on the exchange of ozone between Salt Lake Valley and the Wasatch Mountains through the Red Butte Canyon tributary drainage. |
