Overview
This dataset provides detailed information on the atmospheric chemical composition and dynamic processes within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) in Warsaw, Poland. It includes numerical simulation outputs from the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model Parallelized LES Model (PALM), ground-based air quality measurements from the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (CIEP), and satellite observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the EU/ESA Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. The dataset covers 3 days in 2021 (clean, ) and offers a comprehensive characterization of the distribution of chemical species and the dynamics of turbulent fluxes within the PBL.
The dataset integrates three primary sources:
- PALM model simulations: High-resolution meteorological and chemical variables, enabling a detailed analysis of turbulence structure and pollutant transport within the PBL.
- CIEP air quality measurements: In situ data on atmospheric pollutant concentrations (such as NO₂, O₃, and PM₁₀), collected from a network of monitoring stations across Warsaw.
- TROPOMI satellite observations: Measurements of trace gas distributions in the atmosphere, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO), providing a synoptic view of the spatial variability of pollutants over the city.
The integration of these three sources enables a comprehensive assessment of the interactions between atmospheric processes at different scales, contributing to studies on pollutant dispersion, urbanization impacts, and numerical model validation.
PALM simulations data
This dataset consists of outputs from high-resolution numerical simulations conducted using the Parallelized LES Model (PALM), which is installed and executed on the high-performance computing infrastructure of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw (ICM UW). The simulations were performed over two computational domains: one covering a 6.0 km × 6.0 km horizontal area and extending up to 4.0 km in the vertical, and another with a higher-resolution setup over a 1.0 km × 1.0 km horizontal area, also extending up to 4.0 km in the vertical.
The model configuration was designed to match the geographic coordinates of the Warsaw Observatory Station at the Institute of Geophysics, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw (52°12'39.6" N, 20°58'57.4" E, 112 m a.s.l.), This setup ensures an accurate representation of local meteorological conditions, turbulence dynamics, and pollutant dispersion, providing a robust foundation for analyzing atmospheric processes in the urban environment of Warsaw. The dataset provides detailed meteorological variables, including wind fields, temperature, turbulence characteristics, and pollutant concentration.
The static input file contains information about the topography, as well as all the data needed to initialize the land and urban surfaces in the model domain (Domain_6km_static.nc and Domain_1km_static.nc). This includes building heights, street types, vegetation types, land use and land cover, and more within the simulated domain, following the degree spacing. The surface initialization process follows a multi-step approach, depending on the level of detail available for each variable specified in the static file.
The PALM data includes the following files:
Profile_OUTPUT_6km_YYYYMMDD.nc
Cross_Section_OUTPUT_6km_YYYYMMDD.nc
Profile_OUTPUT_1km_YYYYMMDD.nc
Cross_Section_OUTPUT_1km_YYYYMMDD.nc
TimeSeries_OUTPUT_1km_YYYYMMDD.nc
Domain_6km_static.nc
Domain_1km_static.nc
Radiosounding at Legionowo, Poland (WMO 12374)
Radiosonde data from the Legionowo station (WMO 12374, 52°24'00.0" N, 20°57'36.0" E, 96 m a.s.l.) were used as input files for the PALM model simulations.
Soundings were conducted at 00:00 and 12:00 UTC, providing atmospheric profiles of atmospheric pressure (PRES, hPa), geometric height (HGHT, m), air temperature (TEMP, °C), dew point temperature (DWPT, °C), relative humidity (RELH, %), mixing ratio (MIXR, g/kg), wind direction (DRCT, degrees), wind speed (SKNT, knots), potential temperature (THTA, K), potential equivalent temperature (THTE, K), and potential virtual temperature (THTV, K).
These profiles offer a detailed information on the thermodynamic structure and meteorological conditions throughout the atmospheric column on the campaign days.
NOTE: These data are also accessible (and can be visualized) via the Atmospheric Soundings Portal at the University of Wyoming (https://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html, last access February 11, 2025).
The Radiosounding data includes the following files:
Soundings_YYYY-MM-DD-hh.txt
In-Situ Measurements from CIEP in Warsaw, Poland
Air quality data from monitoring stations operated by the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (CIEP) in Warsaw, Poland, were used to establish initial chemical conditions for PALM simulations.
The CIEP dataset includes surface-level concentrations of key air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), ozone (O₃), particulate matter (PM₁₀), and other air pollutants, measured at CIEP air quality monitoring stations.
Measurements collected from multiple urban background locations, excluding the communication/traffic station, provided information in hourly resolution for different areas of the city.
The data are also accessible through the Measurement Data Archives of the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (CIEP) (https://powietrze.gios.gov.pl/pjp/archives, last access February 11, 2025).
The CIEP data includes the following files:
NO2_2021.xlsx
NO_2021.xlsx
O3_2021.xlsx
PM10_2021.xlsx
TROPOMI data
This dataset contains tropospheric column density (TCD) of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) (in molecules/cm²) at Level 3 (L3), derived from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite. The study area covers the Warsaw region, Poland, with data available for three specific days: February 22, September 9, and June 17, 2021. The spatial domain used is 52.00°N, 20.60°E to 52.60°N, 21.80°E.
The Sentinel-5P mission, launched in October 2017, aims to provide global data on atmospheric trace gases, aerosols, and cloud cover that affect air quality and climate. TROPOMI, an advanced hyperspectral spectrometer, measures radiation across the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectral ranges. Since August 2019, pixel resolution has been improved to 3.5 km × 5.5 km by reducing along-track averaging. With an orbital period of approximately 100 minutes, S5P provides daily global coverage.
In these data, reprocessed Level 2 (L2) TROPOMI tropospheric column density (TCD) NO₂ data were used. The conversion to Level 3 (L3) was performed using the HARP package from the Atmospheric Toolbox (https://atmospherictoolbox.org/harp, last access 07 February 2025). Strict quality control criteria were applied: measurements with qa_value < 0.75 were excluded. This threshold effectively removes pixels obscured by clouds, snow- or ice-covered areas, and unreliable retrievals. Additionally, all NO₂ concentrations were converted from mol/m² to Pmolec/cm².
The TROPOMI data includes the following files:
S5P_RPRO_L2G__NO2____.nc
File Information
The LES-PALM output data and static file and the TROPOMI data are stored in netCDF format (.nc). Data in this format can be accessed with open software: Python, R, Julia, Panoply, GrADS, Ferret, NCO, and CDO.
The CIEP data is stored in Excel format (.xlsx). Reading data in these formats they require access to Microsoft Excel software, which is a proprietary software. Data can be also accessed with open software such us Python, Libre Office.
Acknowledgments
The quality assurance and check of the published dataset was done within the National Science Centre, Poland, Weave-UNISONO program (AEROPAN, G.A. no. 2021/03/Y/ST10/00206).
The PALM model simulations were carried out with the support of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling University of Warsaw (ICM UW) under computational allocation no g96-1894 within the Large Eddy SimulationS in Urban environment (LESSU; Project ID: 3673).
The Warsaw Observatory Station acknowledges long-term support of EARLINET/ACTRIS and funding of EC Horizon 2020 grants: no. 739530 (ACTRIS-PPP), no. 871115 (ACTRIS-IMP), and no. 101008004 (ATMO-ACCESS).
We thank the Department of Atmospheric Science at the University of Wyoming for access to radiosonde data, available at weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html (last access: 11 February 2025).
We also acknowledge the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection (CIEP/GIOS) for providing air quality data through its Measurement Data Archives (powietrze.gios.gov.pl, last access: 11 February 2025)
We express our gratitude to the PALM Group at the Institute of Meteorology and Climatology (IMUK), Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany, for developing and maintaining the PALM model (palm.muk.uni-hannover.de/trac, last access: 11 February 2025).
ATTENTION:
We offer a free access to this dataset. The user is however encouraged to share the information on the data use with the Remote Sensing Laboratory by sending an e-mail to rslab@fuw.edu.pl.
In the case this dataset is used for a scientific communication (publication, conference contribution, thesis) we would like to kindly ask for considering to acknowledge data provision by adding the following statement in Acknowledgments: "We acknowledge the data originators R.G. Carneiro, E.A. Ugboma and I.S. Stachlewska for the quality-assurance, evaluation, and provision of data sets of the Remote Sensing Laboratory at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw, Poland."
