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The diurnal evolution of the three-dimensional summer-season mean wind and temperature structure in California's Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys (collectively called the Central Valley) is investigated using data from 22 radar wind profiler/radio acoustic sounding systems (RASS) operated as part of the Central California Ozone Study in 2000. The profiler network revealed, for the first time, that the persistent summer-season flow pattern documented by surface observations extends 800-1000 in above the surface. At most locations, upvalley winds persist during both day and night except at the upper ends of the valleys and close to the valley sidewalls where diurnal wind reversals occur. Wind speeds exhibit pronounced diurnal oscillations, with amplitudes decreasing with height. A low-level wind maximum occurs in the lowest 300 m, with a sharp decrease in speed above the maximum. Especially well defined nocturnal low-level jets occur at sites in the southern San Joaquin Valley, where maximum speeds of 10 m [s.sup.-1] or more occur 1-2 h before midnight at heights near 300 m. The afternoon mixed layer, generally deeper than 1000 m, increases in depth with up-valley distance in both valleys. At night, temperature inversions develop in the lowest several hundred meters with near-isothermal layers above. Mean temperatures in the lowest 500 m of the valleys are always warmer than at the same altitude over the coast, and temperature increases from the lower to upper valleys. The diurnal oscillations of the coastvalley and along-valley temperature and pressure difference reach a maximum in late afternoon and a minimum in early morning. These oscillations are ill phase with the diurnal variation of westerly onshore flows. The alongvalley wind maxima, however, occur 1-2 h before midnight, whereas the along-valley pressure gradient maxima are usually found just before sunset.

A climatology of the Great Plains low-level jet (LLJ) is developed from 2 yr of research rawinsonde data obtained up to eight times per day at a site in north-central Oklahoma. These data have better height and time resolution than earlier studies, and show that jets are stronger than previously reported and that the heights of maximum wind speed are closer to the ground. LLJs are present in 47% of the warm season soundings and 45% of the cold season soundings. More than 50% of the LLJs have wind maxima below 500 m above ground level (AGL). Because the 404-MHz radar profiler network in the central United States has its first data points at 500 m AGL, it is likely to miss some LLJ events and will have inadequate vertical resolution of LLJ wind structure. Previous studies have identified LLJs on the basis of a wind speed profile criterion. This criterion fails to separate the classical southerly LLJs from the less frequent northerly jets, which differ in both structure and evolution. Classical southerly jets are more frequent; they occur year round, with the highest frequency in the summer and at night. Southerly LLJ wind speed maxima are most frequently found at 300-600 m AGL, and peak speeds, typically between 15 and 21 m [s.sup.-1], are attained at 0200 CST. The height of the wind speed maximum varies little during nighttime - a period when surface-based inversions grow in depth but generally remain below the jet. Winds at the nose of the southerly jets exhibit a distinct diurnal clockwise turning in wind direction and an oscillation in speed. Northerly jets occur year round. They are generally associated with cold air outbreaks and are found in the cold air behind southward-moving cold fronts. In winter, their frequency of occurrence rivals that of the southerly jets. Their occurrence, however, is less dependent on time of day, with a weak daytime maximum. They are more variable in the heights of their wind speed maxima, are associated more frequently with elevated frontal inversions, and do not exhibit a clockwise turning with time. The heights of the jet speed maxima are found to increase with distance behind the surface cold front.

VALDRIFT (valley drift) is a valley atmospheric transport, diffusion, and deposition model. The model is phenomenological - that is, the dominant meteorological processes governing the behavior of the valley atmosphere are formulated explicitly in the model, although in a highly parameterized fashion. The key meteorological processes treated are 1) nonsteady and nonhomogeneous along-valley winds and turbulent diffusivities, 2) convective boundary layer growth, 3) inversion descent, and 4) nocturnal temperature inversion breakup. The model is applicable under relatively cloud-free, undisturbed synoptic conditions in which the winds in the valley are predominantly along the valley's axis. The model is configured to operate through one diurnal cycle for a single narrow valley. The inputs required are the valley topographic characteristics, pollutant release rate as a function of time and space, wind speed and direction as functions of time measured at one height, lateral and vertical turbulent eddy diffusivities as functions of stability, and the valley temperature inversion characteristics at sunrise. The outputs are three-dimensional concentration fields and ground-level deposition fields as functions of time. The scientific foundations of VALDRIFT are given in this paper along with a brief discussion of the model inputs and outputs. Air concentrations estimated by VALDRIFT compare favorably with results from a tracer experiment conducted in a deep mountain valley.

The diurnal variation of regional wind patterns in the complex terrain of the Grand Canyon area was investigated for wintertime fair weather days using a network of wind sensors on 10-m towers. Thermally driven along-slope and along-valley circulations were present at all sites within the region, but wind characteristics varied from site to site depending on nearby topography and exposure. Along the Colorado River upstream from the Grand Canyon, a series of subbasins produce a regional circulation system characterized by convergence of low-level air into the subbasins at night and divergence of air from the subbasins during the day. Contrary to valley wind theory expectations, locations down valley from the subbasin centers experience up-valley winds during nighttime and down-valley winds during daytime.

The Colorado Plateau, surrounded by a ring of mountains, has the meteorological characteristics of a basin. Deep, persistent potential temperature inversions form in this basin in winter. The formation, maintenance, and dissipation of these inversions are investigated using two to four times daily radiosonde data from the winter and early spring of 1989-90. In winter, inversion evolution is forced primarily by synoptic-scale events. The buildup takes place over one or more days as warm air advection occurs above the basin with the approach of high pressure ridges. The breakup, which occurs with cold air advection above the basin as troughs approach, can occur over periods less than 12 h. Many approaching troughs modulate inversion strength and depth but are too weak to destroy the persistent inversion. Later in the winter and spring, the radiation-induced nocturnal inversion is destroyed nearly every day by the daytime growth of convective boundary layers from the basin floor and sidewalls.

Wintertime temperature profiles in the Grand Canyon exhibit a neutral to isothermal stratification during both daytime and nighttime, with only rare instances of actual temperature inversions. The canyon warms during daytime and cools during nighttime more or less uniformly through the canyon's entire depth. This weak stability and temperature structure evolution differ from other Rocky Mountain valleys, which develop strong nocturnal inversions and exhibit convective and stable boundary layers that grow upward from the valley floor. Mechanisms that may be responsible for the different behavior of the Grand Canyon are discussed, including the possibility that the canyon atmosphere is frequently mixed to near-neutral stratification when cold air drains into the top of the canyon from the nearby snow-covered Kaibab Plateau. Another feature of canyon temperature profiles is the sharp inversions that often form near the canyon rims. These are generally produced when warm air is advected over the canyon in advance of passing synoptic-scale ridges. Wintertime winds in the main canyon are not classical diurnal along-valley wind systems. Rather, they are driven along the canyon axis by the horizontal synoptic-scale pressure gradient that is superimposed along the canyon's axis by passing synoptic-scale weather disturbances. They may thus bring winds into the canyon from either end at any time of day. The implications of the observed canyon boundary layer structure for air pollution dispersion are discussed.