Meteorological effects on wintertime air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley were investigated using SOnic Detection and Ranging soundings, Automatic Weather Station measurements, numerical simulation using Weather Research and Forecasting data, and Chemical Transport Modeling during February 2013. A surrogate for black carbon was used for transport simulation in order to better understand the effects of local meteorological factors on air pollution. In the simulation, the emission strength of the black carbon surrogate was assumed temporally constant and spatially uniform over the Kathmandu Valley floor. The Weather Research and Forecasting simulation results were well correlated with observed meteorological measurements and demonstrated diurnal periodicity such as intrusion of westerly‐northwesterly wind into the Kathmandu Valley and modification of the boundary layer activity due to afternoon wind. The transport simulation suggested long‐lasting weak wind, thermally stable stratification, and associated small turbulence during the night and morning caused potentially severe air pollution. We propose a method using wind velocity and turbulent kinetic energy in the surface layer to characterize pollution level in the Kathmandu Valley.

Safe flights over the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Kathmandu, Nepal, remain a considerable challenge. Since the airport opened, there have been 13 aircraft accidents during landings and takeoffs that have claimed 392 lives. A detailed understanding and dependable forecast of atmospheric conditions that may develop over the complex terrain of the midhills of central Nepal Himalaya are yet to be achieved. The present study discusses the near-surface atmospheric conditions possibly associated with the most recent fatal crash at TIA on 12 March 2018 as revealed by the Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) Model routine forecast. At the time of the accident, two prominent gap winds were converging in the valley, thereby, forming a crosswind and a mix of strong up- and downdrafts over the airfield. As a result, the near-surface atmosphere was significantly turbulent. Unexpected encounters with such turbulent winds are a likely contributor to the fatal crash. This indicates that the knowledge of near-surface atmospheric conditions, critically needed by pilots in advance, for safe operations over the airfield may be generated with WRF-ARW forecasts.

No abstract