Vertical Temperature Structure During the 1966 Thanksgiving Week Air Pollution Episode in New York City

Abstract

This paper presents time cross-sections of vertical temperature structure during the 1966 Thanksgiving week air pollution episode in New York City, based on 6-hourly soundings at Kennedy Airport. The analyses depict numerous inversions in the lower 10,000 ft of the atmosphere, including an interesting sequence of surface-based inversions and an outstanding inversion aloft. Diurnal and daily variations in the height of the mixing layer can also be seen. Some possible influences of the vertical temperature structure on SO2 concentrations in Manhattan are discussed, and it is suggested that exceptional peak SO2 concentrations were largely due to the fumigation process.