Carlos Román-Cascón

• PhD
• Postdoc - Juan de la Cierva Incorporación at Universidad de Cádiz

The aim of the present study is to examine the impact of Madrid's urban growth over the last 50 years (1970-2020). We conduct a modelling study using WRF-ARW with the multilayer urban parameterization BEP-BEM, in which different urban parameters have been incorporated at each point within the model's inner domain according to urban expansion from 1...

Mediterranean grasslands provide different ecosystems and social and economic services to the Mediterranean basin. Specifically, in Spain, pastures occupy more than 55% of the Spanish surface. Farmers and policymakers need to estimate the Gross Primary Production (GPP) to make sustainable management of these ecosystems and to study the role of gras...

Air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risks to health, causing millions of deaths and deleterious health effects worldwide, especially in urban areas where citizens are exposed to high ambient levels of pollutants, also influencing indoor air quality (IAQ). Many sources of indoor air are fairly obvious and well known, but the contribut...

This work presents the quality performance and the capabilities of altimetry derived wind speed (WS) retrievals from the altimeters on-board Copernicus satellites Sentinel-3A/B (S3A/B) for the spatial assessment of WS outputs from the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model over the complex area of the Gulf of Cádiz (GoC), Spain. In order to a...

Several recent studies have shown that knowledge of the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil moisture intrinsically contains information on precipitation. In this study, we show how SMOS measurements can be used to generate a near-real-time precipitation product with a spatial resolution of 0.1° and a temporal resolution of 3 h. The principle consists o...

A correct simulation of the dispersion during wintertime thermal inversion is important not only to improve the physical understanding of the phenomena but also to design and evaluate strategies to improve air quality. In this study WRF with the multilayer urban canopy scheme BEP-BEM is used to simulate the dispersion during one of those episodes o...

Persistent wintertime inversions over cities are the most critical conditions for air quality, and also one of the most challenging situations to simulate with a meteorological model. In this study, the ability of the meteorological Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, coupled with the multilayer urban canopy parameterization BEP-BEM (Buil...

The water and energy transfers at the interface between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere should be correctly simulated in numerical weather and climate models. This implies the need for a realistic and accurate representation of land cover (LC), including appropriate parameters for each vegetation type. In some cases, the lack of information...

Persistent wintertime inversions over cities are the most critical conditions for air quality, and also one of the most challenging situations to simulate with a meteorological model. In the first part of this study, the ability of the meteorological model WRF, coupled with the multilayer urban canopy parameterization BEP-BEM, to simulate the evolu...

A correct simulation of the dispersion during wintertime thermal inversion is important not only to improve the physical understanding of the phenomena but also to design and evaluate strategies to improve air quality. In Part II of this study the simulations performed in Part I using WRF with the multilayer urban canopy scheme BEP-BEM, are used to...

The water and energy transfers at the interface between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere should be correctly simulated in numerical weather and climate models. This implies the need for a realistic and accurate representation of land cover (LC), including appropriate parameters for each vegetation type. In some cases, the lack of information...

The use of soil moisture (SM) measurements from satellites has grown in recent years, fostering the development of new products at high resolution. This opens the possibility of using them for certain applications that were normally carried out using in situ data. We investigated this hypothesis through two main analyses using two high-resolution s...

Sea breeze (SB) frontal passages, the relevant factors influencing their formation and their interaction with local turbulence, are analyzed. To proceed, numerical simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are compared with a comprehensive observational database from the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research site...

Near real-time precipitation is essential to many applications. In Africa, the lack of dense rain-gauge networks and ground weather radars makes the use of satellite precipitation products unavoidable. Despite major progresses in estimating precipitation rate from remote sensing measurements over the past decades, satellite precipitation products s...

Most of the effects caused by fog are negative for humans. Yet, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models still have problems to simulate fog properly, especially in operational forecasts. In the case of radiation fog, this is partially caused by the large sensitivity to many aspects, such as the synoptic and local conditions, the near-surface turb...

The interconnection of local downslope flows of different intensities with the turbulent characteristics and thermal structure of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is investigated through observations. Measurements are carried out in a relatively flat area 2 km away from the steep slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama (central Iberian Peninsula). A...

This work presents the characterisation and comparison of daytime and nighttime mountain breezes observed at three sites through the analysis of tower data. The sites are located: (i) in the foothills of the Guadarrama Mountains in Spain, (ii) on a plateau adjacent to the Pyrenees in France, and (iii) in the Salt Lake Valley (SLV) in the southwest...

In the Sahel, crop growth and yield are strongly linked to climate fluctuations. The low and erratic rainfall the Sahel region has experienced for several years led to poor harvests, associated with dramatic food crises and famines. Consequently, numerous studies were conducted to develop innovative techniques to estimate crop yield based on satell...

The role of thermally-driven local downslope or katabatic flows in the dynamics and turbulent features of the stable boundary layer (SBL) is investigated using observations. Measurements are carried out in a relatively flat area 2-km away from the steep slopes of the Guadarrama Mountain Range (Spain). Forty katabatic events are selected from an obs...

Core Ideas AMMA‐CATCH is a long‐term critical zone observatory in West Africa. Four sites sample the sharp ecoclimatic gradient characteristic of this region. Combined measurements of meteorology, water, and vegetation dynamics began in 1990. Intensification of rainfall and hydrological cycles is observed. The strong overall re‐greening may hide co...

En este estudio analizamos las características de los vientos catabáticos y sus consecuencias en la capa límite estable nocturna durante el verano de 2017 en la torre meteorológica de 10 m de la Red GuMNet de La Herrería (San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid). Dentro del conjunto de todos los eventos catabáticos encontramos casos muy diferentes entre...

En este trabajo se presenta un estudio de la influencia de las condiciones sinópticas y de la altura de la capa de mezcla sobre las condiciones de la calidad del aire en la ciudad de Madrid, analizando un episodio de alta concentracioon de NO2 que tuvo lugar del 26 al 30 de diciembre de 2016.

West Africa is a region in fast transition from climate, demography, and land use perspectives. In this context, the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA)-Couplage de l'Atmosphere Tropicale et du Cycle eco-Hydrologique (CATCH) long-term regional observatory was developed to monitor the impacts of global change on the critical zone of We...

We present a valley fog case study in which radiation fog is modulated by topographic effects using data obtained from a field campaign conducted in Heber Valley, Utah from January 7–February 1, 2015, as part of the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations (MATERHORN) program. We use data collected on January 9, 2015 to gain insight i...

Poor urban air quality is one of the main environmental concerns worldwide due to its implications for population exposure and health-related issues. However, the development of effective abatement strategies in cities requires a consistent and holistic assessment of air pollution processes, taking into account all the relevant scales within a city...

The behaviour of the sea breeze along the north coast of Spain is investigated using observations of two topographically contrasting sites together with simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. An objective and systematic selection method is used to detect sea-breeze days from a database of two summer months. The direction...

In this poster an atmospheric density-current event that occurred in the Spanish Northern Plateau is analysed. The micrometeorological instrumentation gives information about the abrupt increase of the turbulence and the sudden change in the thermal stratification due to the density current. Simulations with the WRF model, which is tested for diffe...

The knowledge of the fog-top height (fog thickness) can be very meaningful for aircraft maneuvers, data assim-ilation/validation of Numerical Weather Prediction models or nowcasting of fog dissipation. However, its value is usually difficult to determine and it is sometimes approximated with satellite data, ground remote-sensing instruments or atmo...

Fog-top height (fog thickness) is very useful information for aircraft maneuvers, data assimilation/validation of Numerical Weather Prediction models or nowcasting of fog dissipation. This variable is usually difficult to determine, since the fog-layer top cannot be observed from the surface. In some cases, satellite data, ground remote-sensing ins...

A 6-year climatology of radiation fog has been compiled at two sites: the Research Centre for the Lower Atmosphere (CIBA, Spain) and the Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research (CESAR, The Netherlands). These sites are contrasting in terms of geographical situation, climate zone, altitude, humidity and soil water availability. Therefore,...

The interactions among several stable-boundary-layer (SBL) processes occurring just after the evening transition of 2 July 2011 have been analysed using data from instruments deployed over the area of Lannemezan (France) during the Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence (BLLAST) field campaign. The near-calm situation of the afternoon...

The planetary boundary-layer (PBL) afternoon and evening transition is investigated with measurements from two-month datasets, gathered at two experimental sites significantly different regarding heterogeneity, the degree of terrain wetness, and proximity to mountains. The period of 4 h prior to and after astronomical sunset is extensively analyzed...

The sea breeze and its characteristics are well studied in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, but not so in the Cantabrian coast, perhaps due to a lower prevalence of stable synoptic conditions during the summer period. However, it was found that the sea breeze was one of the main drivers of pollution episodes in the industrialised m...

The interactions among several stable-boundary-layer (SBL) processes occurring just after the evening transition of 2 July 2011 have been analysed using data from instruments deployed over the area of Lannemezan (France) during the Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence (BLLAST) field campaign. The near-calm situation of the afternoon...

Due to the major role of the sun in heating the earth's surface, the atmospheric planetary boundary layer over land is inherently marked by a diurnal cycle. The afternoon transition, the period of the day that connects the daytime dry convective boundary layer to the night-time stable boundary layer, still has a number of unanswered scientific ques...

Near monochromatic gravity waves (GWs) associated with a mesoscale convective system (MCS) were detected during the Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence (BLLAST) field campaign in Lannemezan (France) on 21 June 2011. These GWs are analysed using available instrumental data (e.g. an array of microbarometers, a microwave system Humidit...

Due to the major role of the sun in heating the earth's surface, the atmospheric planetary boundary layer over land is inherently marked by a diurnal cycle. The afternoon transition, the period of the day that connects the daytime dry convective to the night-time stable boundary layer, still raises several scientific issues. This phase of the diurn...

The Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) is mainly ruled by both mechanical and thermal turbulence, and shows an evident diurnal cycle. In the evening transitional period, decay in turbulent kinetic energy occurs, but all the mechanisms behind this decay are still not well understood. In this framework, the BLLAST (Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunse...

Fog and low level clouds have an important impact on human safety and economy. Therefore, high quality forecasting of the fog cycle is desirable to minimize potential risks or costs in those activities where presence of fog has an impact. Numerical modelling of fog remains an important challenge due to the diversity and scales of the mechanisms inv...

Cloud cover is one of the most difficult meteorological variables to predict by weather forecasting meteorological models. However it is a very important element to determine because it has multiple applications, not only in weather forecasting but also in other issues as those related to renewable energy, and particularly to those related to solar...

The adverse effects of fogs over human life are widely known; especially those concerning the transport. However, the prediction of fogs is one of the goals not achieved by the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models yet. One of the reasons of this failure is because there coexist many processes affecting the fog cycle (onset, development and dis...

The effect of the rain is usually associated to an increase of the static surface pressure. Several surface pressure fluctuations have been studied during rainy and stormy days on summer 2011 at CRA (Centre for Atmospheric Research) in Lannemezan (France) during Boundary Layer Late Afternoon and Sunset Turbulence (BLLAST) campaign. This effect and...

This work focuses on the characterization of the transition which begins in the atmospheric boundary layer before sunset. Data from the BLLAST field campaign are used to analyse different aspects of the atmospheric late afternoon and evening transition in the lower atmosphere. This international campaign took place from 14th June to 8th July 2011 a...

Micrometeorological observations from two months (July-August 2009) at the CIBA site (Northern Spanish plateau) have been used to evaluate the evolution of atmospheric stability and turbulence parameters along the evening transition to a Nocturnal Boundary Layer. Turbulent Kinetic Energy thresholds have been established to distinguish between diver...

The prediction of fogs is one of the processes not well reproduced by the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. In particular, the role of turbulence in the formation or dissipation of fogs is one of the physical processed not well understood, and therefore, not well parameterized by the NWP models. Observational analysis of three different pe...