scholarly journals Changes of daily surface ozone maxima in Switzerland in all seasons from 1992 to 2002 and discussion of summer 2003

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1187-1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ordóñez ◽  
H. Mathis ◽  
M. Furger ◽  
S. Henne ◽  
C. Hüglin ◽  
...  

Abstract. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to derive the influence of the meteorological variability on the daily maximum ozone concentrations at 12 low-elevation sites north of the Alps in Switzerland during the four seasons in the 1992–2002 period. The afternoon temperature and the morning global radiation were the variables that accounted for most of the meteorological variability in summer and spring, while other variables that can be related to vertical mixing and dilution of primary pollutants (afternoon global radiation, wind speed, stability or day of the week) were more significant in winter. In addition, the number of days after a frontal passage was important to account for ozone build-up in summer and ozone destruction in winter. The statistical model proved to be a robust tool for reducing the impact of the meteorological variability on the ozone concentrations. The explained variance of the model, averaged over all stations, ranged from 60.2% in winter to 71.9% in autumn. The year-to-year variability of the seasonal medians of daily ozone maxima was reduced by 85% in winter, 60% in summer, and 50% in autumn and spring after the meteorological adjustment. For most stations, no significantly negative trends (at the 95% confidence level) of the summer medians of daily O3 or Ox (O3+NO2) maxima were found despite the significant reduction in the precursor emissions in Central Europe. However, significant downward trends in the summer 90th percentiles of daily Ox maxima were observed at 6 sites in the region around Zürich (on average −0.73 ppb yr-1 for those sites). The lower effect of the titration by NO as a consequence of the reduced emissions could partially explain the significantly positive O3 trends in the cold seasons (on average 0.69 ppb yr-1 in winter and 0.58 ppb yr-1 in autumn). The increase of Ox found for most stations in autumn (on average 0.23 ppb yr-1) and winter (on average 0.39 ppb yr-1) could be due to increasing European background ozone levels, in agreement with other studies. The statistical model was also able to explain the very high ozone concentrations in summer 2003, the warmest summer in Switzerland for at least ~150 years. On average, the measured daily ozone maximum was 15 ppb (nearly 29%) higher than in the reference period summer 1992–2002, corresponding to an excess of 5 standard deviations of the summer means of daily ozone maxima in that period.

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 7047-7088 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ordóñez ◽  
H. Mathis ◽  
M. Furger ◽  
S. Henne ◽  
C. Hüglin ◽  
...  

Abstract. An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to derive the influence of the meteorological variability on the daily maximum ozone concentrations at 12 low-elevation sites north of the Alps in Switzerland during the four seasons in the 1992–2002 period. The afternoon temperature and the morning global radiation were the variables that accounted for most of the meteorological variability in summer and spring, while other variables that can be related to vertical mixing and dilution of primary pollutants (afternoon global radiation, wind speed, stability or day of the week) were more significant in winter. In addition, the number of days after a frontal passage was important to account for ozone build-up in summer and ozone destruction in winter. The statistical model proved to be a robust tool for reducing the impact of the meteorological variability on the ozone concentrations and further ozone trend assessment. On average the explained variance ranged from 60.7% in winter to 71.8% in autumn, and the year-to-year variability of the seasonal medians of daily ozone maxima was reduced by 85% in winter, 60% in summer, and 50% in autumn and spring after the meteorological adjustment. For most of the stations, except some in the region around Zürich, no significantly negative trends (at the 95% confidence level) of either daily O3 or Ox (O3+NO2) maxima were found in summer despite the significant reduction in the precursor emissions in Central Europe. The lower effect of the titration by NO as a consequence of the reduced emissions could partially explain the significantly positive O3 trends in the cold seasons (on average 0.68 ppb yr−1 in winter and 0.58 ppb yr−1 in autumn). The increase of Ox found for most stations in autumn (on average 0.23 ppb yr−1) and winter (on average 0.40 ppb yr−1) could be due to increasing European background ozone levels, in agreement with other studies. The statistical model was also able to explain the very high ozone concentrations in summer 2003, the warmest summer in Switzerland for at least ~150 years. On average, the measured daily ozone maximum was 15 ppb (nearly 29%) higher than in the reference period summer 1992–2002, corresponding to an excess of 5 standard deviations of the summer means of daily ozone maxima in that period.


2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1456-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhining Tao ◽  
Allen Williams ◽  
Ho-Chun Huang ◽  
Michael Caughey ◽  
Xin-Zhong Liang

Abstract Different cumulus schemes cause significant discrepancies in simulated precipitation, cloud cover, and temperature, which in turn lead to remarkable differences in simulated biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions and surface ozone concentrations. As part of an effort to investigate the impact (and its uncertainty) of climate changes on U.S. air quality, this study evaluates the sensitivity of BVOC emissions and surface ozone concentrations to the Grell (GR) and Kain–Fritsch (KF) cumulus parameterizations. Overall, using the KF scheme yields less cloud cover, larger incident solar radiation, warmer surface temperature, and higher boundary layer height and hence generates more BVOC emissions than those using the GR scheme. As a result, the KF (versus GR) scheme produces more than 10 ppb of summer mean daily maximum 8-h ozone concentration over broad regions, resulting in a doubling of the number of high-ozone occurrences. The contributions of meteorological conditions versus BVOC emissions on regional ozone sensitivities to the choice of the cumulus scheme largely offset each other in the California and Texas regions, but the contrast in BVOC emissions dominates over that in the meteorological conditions for ozone differences in the Midwest and Northeast regions. The result demonstrates the necessity of considering the uncertainty of future ozone projections that are identified with alternative model physics configurations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Stähle ◽  
Monika Mayer ◽  
Christian Schmidt ◽  
Jessica Kult ◽  
Vinzent Klaus ◽  
...  

<p>As the production of ozone in surface air is determined by ambient temperature and by the prevalent chemical regime, a very different temperature dependence of ozone production emerges for nitrogen oxides (NO<sub>x</sub>) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) limited regions. In this study we evaluated the temperature sensitivity of ozone production for rural, suburban as well as urban sites in Austria on seasonal basis. The analysis is based on 30 years of observational data from Austrian monitoring networks for the time period 1990 – 2019. Reductions in precursor emissions as observed in 2020 in Austria due to the pandemic will be used to test the obtained results. Surface ozone, NO<sub>x</sub>, daily sums of global radiation and minimum daily temperature are used as covariates in our study. The observed NO<sub>x</sub> to VOC ratio at individual sites is variable over time due to changes in precursor emissions and/or the variability of meteorological parameters such as mixing layer height. At the site level we relate the temperature sensitivity of ozone production to the daily mean NO<sub>x</sub> mixing ratio and the daily minimum temperature. This information allows us to determine the impact of past/future temperature changes on surface ozone abundance in the context of reductions of NO<sub>x</sub> emissions and changing methane backgrounds.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Han ◽  
Jane Liu ◽  
Lei Shu ◽  
Tijian Wang ◽  
Huiling Yuan

Abstract. Ozone pollution in China is influenced by meteorological processes on multiple scales. Using regression analysis and weather classification, we statistically assess the impacts of local and synoptic meteorology on daily variability in surface ozone in eastern China in summer during 2013–2018. In this period, summertime surface ozone in eastern China (20–42∘ N, 110–130∘ E) is among the highest in the world, with regional means of 73.1 and 114.7 µg m−3, respectively, in daily mean and daily maximum 8 h average. Through developing a multiple linear regression (MLR) model driven by local and synoptic weather factors, we establish a quantitative linkage between the daily mean ozone concentrations and meteorology in the study region. The meteorology described by the MLR can explain ∼43 % of the daily variability in summertime surface ozone across eastern China. Among local meteorological factors, relative humidity is the most influential variable in the center and south of eastern China, including the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions, while temperature is the most influential variable in the north, covering the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. To further examine the synoptic influence of weather conditions explicitly, six predominant synoptic weather patterns (SWPs) over eastern China in summer are objectively identified using the self-organizing map clustering technique. The six SWPs are formed under the integral influence of the East Asian summer monsoon, the western Pacific subtropical high, the Meiyu front, and the typhoon activities. On average, regionally, two SWPs bring about positive ozone anomalies (1.1 µg m−3 or 1.7 % and 2.7 µg m−3 or 4.6 %), when eastern China is under a weak cyclone system or under the prevailing southerly wind. The impact of SWPs on the daily variability in surface ozone varies largely within eastern China. The maximum impact can reach ±8 µg m−3 or ±16 % of the daily mean in some areas. A combination of the regression and the clustering approaches suggests a strong performance of the MLR in predicting the sensitivity of surface ozone in eastern China to the variation of synoptic weather. Our assessment highlights the importance of meteorology in modulating ozone pollution over China.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 4901-4939 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Langner ◽  
M. Engardt ◽  
A. Baklanov ◽  
J. H. Christensen ◽  
M. Gauss ◽  
...  

Abstract. The impact of climate change on surface ozone over Europe was studied using four offline regional chemistry transport models (CTMs) and one online regional integrated climate-chemistry model (CCM) driven by the same global projection of future climate under the SRES A1B scenario. Anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursors from RCP4.5 for year 2000 were used for simulations of both present and future periods in order to isolate the impact of climate change and to assess the robustness of the result across the different models. The sensitivity of the simulated surface ozone to changes in climate between the periods 2000–2009 and 2040–2049 differs among the models, but the general pattern of change with an increase in southern Europe and decrease in northern Europe is similar across different models. Emissions of isoprene differ substantially between different CTMs ranging from 1.6 to 8.0 Tg yr−1 for the current climate, partly due to differences in horizontal resolution of meteorological input data. Also the simulated change in isoprene emissions varies substantially across models explaining part of the different response. Average model changes in summer mean ozone and mean of daily maximum ozone exceed 1 ppb(v) in parts of the land area in southern Europe. Corresponding changes of 95-percentiles of hourly ozone exceed 2 ppb(v) in the same region. Over land areas in northern Europe ensemble mean changes in all these measures are mostly negative.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 122-135
Author(s):  
D.V. Borisov ◽  
◽  
I.Yu. Shalygina ◽  
E.A. Lezina ◽  
◽  
...  

The results of the comparison of seasonal and daily variability of surface ozone (О3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at urban monitoring stations in Moscow (Mosekomonitoring), Berlin, and Warsaw (European Environment Agency) for 2017-2018 are presented. Observational data indicate a leading role of vertical mixing in the atmospheric boundary layer in the formation of seasonal and daily regimes of surface ozone. Both seasonal and diurnal variations in О3 and NO2 are in good agreement at all stations. In the warm season, the anthropogenic factor becomes a key one for the formation of the daily maximum and increased levels of surface ozone under favorable meteorological conditions for active photochemical processes. The frequency of occurrence of high ozone values is determined, and an episode of atmospheric ozone values dangerous for public health is analyzed. Keywords: meteorological conditions, surface ozone, seasonal variation, diurnal variation, episodes of high ozone values Tab. 1. Fig. 3. Ref. 19.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 7399-7412 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Zare ◽  
J. H. Christensen ◽  
P. Irannejad ◽  
J. Brandt

Abstract. Knowledge about isoprene emissions and concentration distribution is important for chemistry transport models (CTMs), because isoprene acts as a precursor for tropospheric ozone and subsequently affects the atmospheric concentrations of many other atmospheric compounds. Isoprene has a short lifetime, and hence it is very difficult to evaluate its emission estimates against measurements. For this reason, we coupled two isoprene emission models with the Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM), and evaluated the simulated background ozone concentrations based on different models for isoprene emissions. In this research, results of using the two global biogenic emission models; GEIA (Global Emissions Inventory Activity) and MEGAN (the global Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature) are compared and evaluated. The total annual emissions of isoprene for the year 2006 estimated by using MEGAN is 592 Tg yr−1 for an extended area of the Northern Hemisphere, which is 21% higher than that estimated by using GEIA. The overall feature of the emissions from the two models is quite similar, but differences are found mainly in Africa's savannah and in the southern part of North America. Differences in spatial distribution of emission factors are found to be a key source of these discrepancies. In spite of the short life-time of isoprene, a direct evaluation of isoprene concentrations using the two biogenic emission models in DEHM has been made against available measurements in Europe. Results show an agreement between two models simulations and the measurements in general and that the CTM is able to simulate isoprene concentrations. Additionally, investigation of ozone concentrations resulting from the two biogenic emission models show that isoprene simulated by MEGAN strongly affects the ozone production in the African savannah; the effect is up to 10% more than that obtained using GEIA. In contrast, the impact of using GEIA is higher in the Amazon region with more than 8% higher ozone concentrations compared to that of using MEGAN. Comparing the ozone concentrations obtained by DEHM using the two different isoprene models with measurements from Europe and North America, show an agreement on the hourly, mean daily and daily maximum values. However, the average of ozone daily maximum value simulated by using MEGAN is slightly closer to the measured value for the average of all measuring sites in Europe.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 9741-9765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanouil Oikonomakis ◽  
Sebnem Aksoyoglu ◽  
Martin Wild ◽  
Giancarlo Ciarelli ◽  
Urs Baltensperger ◽  
...  

Abstract. Surface solar radiation (SSR) observations have indicated an increasing trend in Europe since the mid-1980s, referred to as solar “brightening”. In this study, we used the regional air quality model, CAMx (Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions) to simulate and quantify, with various sensitivity runs (where the year 2010 served as the base case), the effects of increased radiation between 1990 and 2010 on photolysis rates (with the PHOT1, PHOT2 and PHOT3 scenarios, which represented the radiation in 1990) and biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions (with the BIO scenario, which represented the biogenic emissions in 1990), and their consequent impacts on summer surface ozone concentrations over Europe between 1990 and 2010. The PHOT1 and PHOT2 scenarios examined the effect of doubling and tripling the anthropogenic PM2.5 concentrations, respectively, while the PHOT3 investigated the impact of an increase in just the sulfate concentrations by a factor of 3.4 (as in 1990), applied only to the calculation of photolysis rates. In the BIO scenario, we reduced the 2010 SSR by 3 % (keeping plant cover and temperature the same), recalculated the biogenic emissions and repeated the base case simulations with the new biogenic emissions. The impact on photolysis rates for all three scenarios was an increase (in 2010 compared to 1990) of 3–6 % which resulted in daytime (10:00–18:00 Local Mean Time – LMT) mean surface ozone differences of 0.2–0.7 ppb (0.5–1.5 %), with the largest hourly difference rising as high as 4–8 ppb (10–16 %). The effect of changes in BVOC emissions on daytime mean surface ozone was much smaller (up to 0.08 ppb, ∼ 0.2 %), as isoprene and terpene (monoterpene and sesquiterpene) emissions increased only by 2.5–3 and 0.7 %, respectively. Overall, the impact of the SSR changes on surface ozone was greater via the effects on photolysis rates compared to the effects on BVOC emissions, and the sensitivity test of their combined impact (the combination of PHOT3 and BIO is denoted as the COMBO scenario) showed nearly additive effects. In addition, all the sensitivity runs were repeated on a second base case with increased NOx emissions to account for any potential underestimation of modeled ozone production; the results did not change significantly in magnitude, but the spatial coverage of the effects was profoundly extended. Finally, the role of the aerosol–radiation interaction (ARI) changes in the European summer surface ozone trends was suggested to be more important when comparing to the order of magnitude of the ozone trends instead of the total ozone concentrations, indicating a potential partial damping of the effects of ozone precursor emissions' reduction.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Mayer ◽  
Christoph Staehle ◽  
Christian Schmidt ◽  
Harald E. Rieder

<p>As the production of ozone in surface air is determined by ambient temperature and by the prevalent chemical regime, a very different temperature dependence of ozone production emerges for NO<sub>x</sub> and VOC limited regions. In this study we evaluated the temperature sensitivity of ozone production for rural, suburban as well as urban sites in Austria on seasonal basis. The analysis is based on observational data from Austrian monitoring networks for the time period spanning 1990 – 2018. Surface ozone, nitrogen oxides (NO<sub>x</sub>), daily sums of global radiation and minimum daily temperature are used as covariates in our study. The observed NO<sub>x</sub> to VOC ratio at individual sites is variable over time due to changes in precursor emissions and/or the variability of meteorological parameters such as mixing layer height. At the site level we relate the temperature sensitivity of ozone production to the daily mean NO<sub>x</sub> mixing ratio and the daily minimum temperature. This information allows us to determine the impact of past/future temperature changes on surface ozone  abundance in the context of reductions of NO<sub>x</sub> emissions and changing methane backgrounds.</p>


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