Urban boundary layer network

Helsinki UrBAN is a research network. We study the physics of the urban micro-climate: Helsinki's lower atmosphere (the Atmospheric Boundary Layer).

UrBAN is a collaboration primarily between the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the University of Helsinki. Our key tools are instrumentation that observe the atmosphere (eddy-covariance flux stations, lidar, sodar, ceilometers, scintillometers, infra-red cameras).

The purpose of the network is to provide data about atmospheric boundary-layer (ABL) processes and qualities: including ABL depth, vertical profiles of mean and turbulence variables, about the surface–atmosphere exchange of energy and gases (e.g. carbon dioxide and water vapour).

Helsinki UrBAN will provide better experimental data for development and evaluation of numerical weather prediction (NWP) and air quality (AQ) models; and eventually data could also be used operationally in future (e.g. for NWP / data assimilation / AQ models).

Network web site http://urban.fmi.fi/.

18.6.2021