Hi there,
I'm currently monitoring air pollution in Grenada, West Indies and as part of my project I have identified four scenarios in which I would like to use a back-trajectory analysis (HYSPLIT) to determine where air parcels at breathing height are sourced from, to get a better understanding of what may be influencing air quality for people living in Grenada.The four scenarios I am interested in are: 1. During a Saharan dust event with COVID-19 government interventions implemented, 2. During a Saharan dust event with no COVID-19 government interventions implemented, 3. Not during a Saharan dust event with COVID-19 government interventions implemented, 4. Not during a Saharan dust event with no COVID-19 government interventions implemented. Is it possible to use HYSPLIT back-trajectories to determine where air parcels at around breathing height are sourced from to determine what is influencing the air quality of this particular location (Grenada) at particular dates and times that satisfy each scenario?
For example, I would expect that during scenarios 1 and 2 that back-trajectories would lead back to the Sahara/Sahel of the African continent, given the proper starting height for the back-trajectory.
It seems that the COVID-19 has positive effects on plants and air purification.
I have a field observation that reduced emissions from factories reduced soot and dust on plant leaves, thus improving their growth and thus increasing oxygen releases.
I wish you good luck
14 Jan 2011 ... PM2.5 has been shown to affect respiratory health in humans. ... WRF model to identify the source locations using backward trajectory analysis. ... Forward dispersions patterns computed using HYSPLIT were plotted from each of ... The back trajectories provide the Lagrangian path of the air parcels in the ...
It seems that the COVID-19 has positive effects on plants and air purification.
I have a field observation that reduced emissions from factories reduced soot and dust on plant leaves, thus improving their growth and thus increasing oxygen releases.
I wish you good luck
Dear Nicholas Dirienzo
The main part of your question as far as I see it is:
“Is it possible to use HYSPLIT back-trajectories to determine where air parcels at around breathing height are sourced from to determine what is influencing the air quality of this particular location (Grenada) at particular dates and times that satisfy each scenario?“
The answer to this question cannot be unique, in general I am convinced that you can certainly use this model to get the basic estimates of possible "areas of influence".
For introductory information on HYSPLIT inverse capacities, please see
https://www.arl.noaa.gov/hysplit/hysplit-inverse-modeling/
My main concern, however, is the accuracy of the inverse solution due to rather poor resolution of the planetary boundary layer fields and the stochastic nature of the trajectories.
My best advice is to start the initial calculations and consider the results as a sort of the back of envelope calculation.
You can consider also the excellent study describing how we can use a set of adjoint transport equations Instead of the backward trajectories
Article Extended back-trajectories by means of adjoint equations
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