Malibu morning picture of the day - April 7, 2014

I thought I was not going post anymore Malibu pictures until 4/16, but I lied. Today we had a very visible morning inversion layer so I snapped it.

A cropped version of inversion above, uncropped below. It's the reddish-brownish haze on the horizon.that you see. The two bumps on the horizon are the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the middle left and Santa Catalina Island at the right.

For those of you who know nothing about inversion layers, it's a coastal phenomenon that makes L.A. famous for its smogginess.

The urban landscape puts a lot of particulate matter into the air (cars, power plants, factories). Normally it would dissipate out higher and higher. Where there is an ocean though, the water cools off the air, makes it dense and holds it down at the surface level. When there is a lot of particulate matter in the air, you can see the exact line where dissipation stops.

In L.A., the cool ocean air moves inland and it should warm up, rise, and dissipate. BUT L.A. is surrounded by hills maybe 1500-2000 feet high. That's why they call it the basin. The air doesn't go anywhere 'cause it trapped in the basin, and the onshore flow keeps cooling things down, holding all the gunk in the air (smog). At night, the air moves offshore, but the gunk all stays low because the ocean keeps the air cool there. The communities outside of the basin--the San Fernando Valley of "Valley Girl" fame, and others--are all appreciably warmer esp. in summer. In Hollywood where I live (in the basin) it may be 75 degrees in early summer, but just 10 miles away through the Cahuenga Pass in non-basin community North Hollywood it may be 85-90 (but less smoggy, and rents are cheaper).

It is said that Balboa noticed this basin-inversion phenomenon when he dropped anchor in Santa Monica Bay and stayed awhile, watching how the smoke from native residents' open fires tended to constantly stay at ground level. He noted that it was a bad place to put a city. Nobody listened. 

Of course, if the city fathers of L.A. had not taken all the water from the Owens Valley, L.A. would probably not have ever gotten any bigger than Santa Barbara or Santa Cruz and we'd just be a pleasant place where you'd vacation for wine tastings and pick your own oranges. But that's a story for another day.

Love,

Pops