Air Quality Measurements in Stuttgart using Tethered Balloon

The city of Stuttgart in Germany is very famous because of its air pollution problems. The air quality in Stuttgart is continuously monitored on the ground but there is not enough data available on the vertical profiles of meteorology and pollutants. The aim of this study is to obtain vertical profiles of meteorological parameters and pollutants in order to investigate the impact of inversion on the air quality of the city of Stuttgart. These vertical profiles help to understand the behavior of temperature inversion, pollutants and their relationship to each other. In order to obtain these vertical profiles, tethered balloon system is used. The measurements were carried out in “Stuttgarter Schlossgarten” near the city center of Stuttgart. The profiles were obtained by ascending the balloon from the ground up to a height of maximum 470 meters and then descending it back to the ground. One complete sounding (ascent and descent) took around 30 to 40 minutes. A total of 43 soundings were carried out continuously for around two days in July 2018 in the period when strong inversion was expected. In the measurement period, high pressure weather conditions were observed, i.e. clear skies, no rain, low wind speeds, which is a prerequisite for the temperature inversion (very stable weather). Hence a strong inversion was observed during the night time which trapped the pollutants