Long-term research goals have been primarily directed at understanding meteorological phenomena that develop in regions of complex, urbanized terrain. An important applied focus of this work has been the investigation of the role such phenomena (e.g. land sea breezes, slope winds and urban effects) have on the transport and dispersion of pollutants. Although much of this research has been site-specific (e.g. the Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia) the findings are of general interest.

Considerable progress has been made in understanding the processes contributing to, and the three-dimensional distribution of, air pollution in regions of complex terrain. This observational program has provided important information for development, initialization and validation of numerical models designed to forecast air quality and test pollutant abatement strategies.

Recently, this research thrust has broadened to consider the impact of long-range transport of burgeoning pollutant emissions and crustal dust from Eurasia to North America. A central part of this work has been the installation of a state-of-the-art lidar facility at UBC in collaboration with Environment Canada.

2022

Lee, S. C. Knox, S. H. McKendry, I. and T. Andrew Black. 2022. Biogeochemical and biophysical responses to episodes of wildfire smoke from natural ecosystems in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 22 (4): 2333–2349. doi: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2333-2022

2020

Ferrara, M. Pomeroy, C. McKendrym I. G. Stull, R. and K. Strawbridge. 2020. Suppression of “Handover” Processes in a MountainConvective Boundary Layer due to Persistent Wildfire Smoke. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 175: 297–308. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-020-00505-0

Hunter C. Moore, R. D. and McKendry, I. G. 2020. Evaluation of the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) precipitation fields in a topographically complex domain. Hydrological Sciences Journal 65(5): 786-799. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2019.1591624

2019

Hunter, C. Moore, R. D. and I. McKendry. 2019. Evaluation of the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) precipitation fields in a topographically complex domain. Hydrological Sciences Journal 65 (5): 786-799. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2019.1591624

McKendry, I. G. Christen, A. Lee, S-C. Ferrara, M. Strawbridge, K. B. O’Neill, N. and A. Black. 2019. Impacts of an intense wildfire smoke episode on surface radiation, energy and carbon fluxes in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 19(2): 835-846. doi: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-835-2019