Pierre H. Flamant1 and Javier Fochesatto2

1Ecole Polytechnique, Laboratoire de Météorologie, France
2CEILAP/CONICET, Argentine

The vertical structure and dynamic properties of the Continental Atmospheric Boundary Layer (CABL) have been studied in the framework of two programmes dedicated to Air Quality, one in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since 1996, and the other one in Paris, France, in 1998 - 2000. An emphasis on the CABL structure is linked to its key role for ventilation of pollutants which is control by its actual height (h) and mean wind velocity. During these two studies, a special attention has been given to two topics : i) the night-morning transition in the context of a major ozone pollution episode in the Paris area, and ii) the signature of both mesoscale (i.e. regional winds) and large scales (i.e. El Niño or la Niña) forcings on the CABL structure in Buenos Aires.

On the importance of the near term deployment of a Lidar-radiometer station network in South and Cenral America for climate change issues, and validation and ground truth for current satellite programmes and future space based lidar programmes.