Meteorological

inuences on surface ozone in the Los Angeles Basin

Brian K. Blaylock Nicole Grossberg Barry Lefer July 30, 2012

LA County: Worst Ozone PolluHon

EPA Air Quality Index (AQI)
Describes how clean or polluted is the air AQI Code Good Moderate
for SensiHve Groups

8-hour Ozone Concentra4on 0 -59 ppb 60 75 ppb

Los Angeles days above health standard (> 75 ppbv 8-hr average):
2012: 86

Unhealthy Unhealthy

76-95 ppb 96-115 ppb >116 ppb

Air Quality is improving

Very Unhealthy

EPA; California Air Resources Board

Los Angeles Air Quality Index

Unhealthy s for sensiHve groups Unhealthy Very Unhealthy

Ozone PolluHon and Weather

Weather impacts on sunlight:
Clouds
Temperature Solar RadiaHon

Weather impacts on precursor concentraHons:

Winds
Absolute Humidity (source region) Wind DirecHon (transport) Wind Speed (diluHon)

Method
Compared surface ozone and weather measurements.
4 air quality staHons in the South Coast Air Management District. Five years: 2008 2012 April 1 September 30

62 good air quality days (subset 8-hr <60 ppbv) 65 unhealthy air quality days (8-hr > 95 ppbv)

Sites
Santa Clarita

Los Angeles

San Bernardino

Costa Mesa

Ozone and Temperature

Ozone and Solar RadiaHon

Aug. 8, 2009 Jul. 7, 2008

Ozone and Absolute Humidity

Dry, Polluted Moist, Clean

LA High Ozone, Dry Days

24-hr back trajectory Slow moving, dry air.

LA Low Ozone, Moist Days

24-hr back trajectory Clean marine, moist air

PolluHon Rose: Wind DirecHon and Frequency at Ozone Max, colored by AQI

Ozone ConcentraHon

LA Low Ozone, Dry Days

24 hour back trajectory Fast moving, dry air

Wind Speed

Costa Mesa

Wind Speed

Costa Mesa Los Angeles

Wind Speed

Costa Mesa Los Angeles San Bernardino

Wind Speed

Costa Mesa Los Angeles San Bernardino Santa Clarita

Conclusion
Ozone posiHvely correlated with temperature Worst ozone when solar radiaHon > 800 W/m2 Ozone negaHvely correlated with humidity
Moist air: clean Dry air: polluted

Wind speed limits ozone in LA and CM, but not at receptor sites: SB and SC.

Acknowledgements
Nicole Grossberg Barry Lefer Jimmy Flynn Laura Judd Emily Schaller

QuesHons?

References
California Environmental ProtecHon Agency Air Resources Board. (n.d.). IADAM: Air Quality Data Sta0s0cs. Retrieved July 25, 2013, from Air Resources Board: hlp://www.arb.ca.gov/adam/index.html Camalier, L., Cox, W., & Dolwick, P. (2007). The eects of meteorology on ozone in urban areas and their use in assessing ozone trends. Atmospheric Environment , 7127-7137. Cape, J. (2008). Surface ozone concentraHons and ecosystem health: Past. Science of the Total Environment , 257-269. Flynn, J. H. (2013). Measurements and Analysis of Ozone ProducHon in Houston and Los Angeles. University of Houston . Fuelberg, H., Harrigan, D., & Sessions, W. (2010). A meteorological overview of the ARCTAS 2008 mission. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics , 817-842. Haman, C., Couzo, E., Flynn, J., Vizuete, W., Heron, B., & Lefer, B. (2013). CorrelaHons between boundary layer heights and growth rates with ground-level ozone in Houston, Texas. Houston, Texas: University of Houston. Jacob, D. J. (1999). Introduc0on to Atmospheric Chemistry. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Lu, R., & Turco, R. (1995). Air polluHon transport in a coastal environment - II, three dimensional simulaHons over Los Angeles basin. Atmospheric Environment , 1499-1518. Pollack, I. B., Trainer, M., Parrish, D. D., Andrews, E., A., Atlas, E. L., et al. (2012). Airborne and ground-based observaHons of a weekend eect in ozone, precursors, and oxidaHon products in the California South Coast air basin. Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres . United States Environmental ProtecHon Agency. (2013). Air Quality Index Daily Values Report. Retrieved June 26, 2013, from hlp://www.epa.gov/airdata/ad_rep_aqi_daily.html United States Environmental ProtecHon Agency. (n.d.). Tile Plot. Retrieved July 2013, from Air Data: www.epa.gov/ airdata/ad_viz_Hle.html This study was made possible in part due to the data made available by the governmental agencies, commercial rms, and educaHonal insHtuHons parHcipaHng in MesoWest.