Explain how the semipermanent Pacific high off the coast of California influences the air pollution in the region


The Pacific high promotes sinking air, which warms the air aloft. Surface winds around the high promote upwelling of ocean water. Upwelling, the rising of cold water from below, makes the surface water cool, which, in turn, cools the air above. Warm air aloft coupled with cool, surface (marine) air, together produce a strong and persistent subsidence inversion that exists 80 to 90 percent of the time over the city of Los Angeles between June and October. The pollution trapped within the cool marine air is occasionally swept eastward by a sea breeze that carries smog from the coastal regions into the interior valleys.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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