CAPITOUL

CAPITOUL is a coupled study of the urban atmosphere and the formation/transformation of urban aerosols, with a measurement campaign planned in the Toulouse region between March 2004 and March 2005. CAPITOUL’s main experimental objectives are to

• to study energy exchanges between the urban surface and the atmosphere under a variety of meteorological conditions: summer and winter conditions, rain, showers, wind, impact of urban heat sources (heating, various energy consumption); these energy exchanges are the source of urban meteorological effects;
• observe the impact of the city on the flow of air above it (from 0 to 1 km altitude): urban heat island, urban dome, urban breeze, urban plume, effect on fog;
• characterize the formation and transformation of urban aerosol (particles suspended in the atmosphere), from emission zones to receptor zones at short (1km) and medium (50km) distances;
• study the short-range dispersion of a simulated industrial discharge using a tracer release exercise (inert gases) to qualify a modeling system.

CAPITOUL is an innovative program. In fact, our current knowledge of urban meteorology is the fruit of studies carried out over the past few years on a few of the world’s major conurbations, but mainly during the summer months and over periods of no more than a few weeks.