Statistical Study Of The Trajectories Of The Air Masses Flow In The Alpine Area

As a part of our activity in the transboundary transport, this study examines a five years' trajectory climatology interesting Northern Italy. Our analysis is twofold: firstly we examine the statistics of air masses arriving at an Alpine location (Brenner Pass) separating between rainy only trajectories and all trajectories, and, secondly, we study the climatology of trajectories, going out from the Po Valley. Trajectories are computed by means of a simple three-dimensional trajectory method using the wind data obtained by the analysis of the ECMWF. The distribution of the arrival (or departure) directions of the trajectories is presented and commented. The differences in the travel times for the different directions are presented as well. The vertical distribution of the trajectories is finally computed. The main results are discussed.