Environmental Risk Communication, LLC, 232 Yale Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15229, USA.
Geneva College, 3200 College Avenue, Beaver Falls, PA, 15010, USA.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Jul;29(32):49411-49421. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-20504-7. Epub 2022 May 7.
Concerns over regional climate change include its impact on air quality. A major contributor to unhealthy air quality is surface-based temperature inversions. Poor air quality is a serious public health concern that is often addressed by public health agencies. To assist with understanding the climatology and trend of temperature inversions for a large public health department, innovative pragmatic criteria were developed and used to determine morning and evening surface-based temperature inversions from datasets derived from Pittsburgh National Weather Service (NWS) radiosonde measurements made from 1 January 1991 through 31 December 2020. During this 30-year period, the strength of the morning (7 a.m. EST; 12 UTC) inversions was 3.9 °C on average. The depth of the inversion layer measured an average height of 246 m above the ground. The inversions tended to dissipate by 10 a.m. EST. The frequency of occurrence of morning inversions averaged 47%. The mean strength of the evening (7 p.m. EST; 00 UTC) inversions was 1.1 °C with a mean depth of 101 m above the ground. The frequency of evening inversion occurrence averaged 20% during this period. The 30-year climatology revealed generally declining frequency of inversions in the Pittsburgh area. Morning surface-based inversion strengths usually declined while morning depths and break times were steady. Evening inversion strengths and depths increased overall during the 30-year period. Monthly means showed a morning-evening overlap of some months that record the most frequent substantial inversions during the fall time of the year, coinciding with the time when the worst air pollution events occur.
人们对区域性气候变化的担忧包括其对空气质量的影响。导致空气质量不健康的一个主要因素是地表温度逆温。空气质量差是一个严重的公共卫生问题，通常由公共卫生机构来解决。为了帮助了解大型公共卫生部门的温度逆温气候学和趋势，开发并使用了创新的实用标准，以从匹兹堡国家气象局（NWS）无线电探空仪测量数据中确定早晨和傍晚的地表温度逆温，这些数据来自 1991 年 1 月 1 日至 2020 年 12 月 31 日。在这 30 年期间，早晨（东部标准时间 7 点；协调世界时 12 点）逆温的强度平均为 3.9°C。逆温层的深度平均为地面以上 246 米。逆温层通常在上午 10 点左右消散。早晨逆温的发生频率平均为 47%。傍晚（东部标准时间 7 点；协调世界时 0 点）逆温的平均强度为 1.1°C，逆温层的平均深度为地面以上 101 米。在此期间，傍晚逆温的发生频率平均为 20%。30 年的气候学表明，匹兹堡地区的逆温频率总体呈下降趋势。早晨地表逆温强度通常下降，而早晨深度和中断时间保持稳定。在 30 年期间，傍晚逆温强度和深度总体上有所增加。月度平均值显示，一些月份的早晨和傍晚重叠，这些月份记录了一年中秋季最频繁的强逆温，这与空气质量最差的事件发生的时间相吻合。
