Inversion strengths are expressed in terms of the change in temperature of the atmosphere, in degrees Celsius (°C), over the first 100 m from ground level vertically up (degC/100 m, or °C/100 m). For this it is necessary to measure or have an estimate of the temperature at 100m above ground level (agl), which can be costly and difficult to obtain directly.
This project investigated some methods for estimating inversion strengths from measurements at heights less than 100m agl.
Atmospheric thermal inversions measured in the Collie Basin, WA
Herring Storer analysed some historical temperature profile measurements from Western Australia to make initial evaluations of alternative approaches for estimating inversion strengths. See Atmospheric thermal inversions measured in the Collie Basin, WA (PDF 892KB).
Field validation of inversion estimation techniques
Access MQ directly measured temperatures simultaneously at 2, 10, 60 and 100m agl at Camberwell in NSW and assessed the accuracy of inversion estimates made by extrapolating from the temperatures measured at different heights. See Field validation of inversion estimation techniques (PDF 1.1MB).
Discussion paper
The Herring Storer and Access MQ reports demonstrate that significantly different inversion strength estimates can be calculated depending on the heights from which the temperature values are taken. This has implications for environmental regulators, community and industry. The discussion paper makes a number of policy, technical and regulatory recommendations which the EPA is considering. See Discussion paper: Validation of the inversion strength estimation method (PDF 1.7MB) and Appendix B: AccessMQ raw data (ZIP 6.9MB).
