Ozone Distribution and Transport in the Houston Area: Insights Gained by Airborne Lidar
Abstract
The Texas 2000 Air Quality Study was conducted in August and September of 2000 to identify the chemical and meteorological processes that are responsible for the frequent exceedances of the ozone air quality standards in the Houston, TX area. To meet this objective a large array of instruments, both ground-based and airborne, was deployed, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Environmental Technology Laboratory airborne ozone and aerosol lidar. The airborne lidar's role was to characterize the horizontal and vertical distribution of ozone and aerosol in the Houston area. The nadir-looking lidar was flown onboard a DC-3 cargo airplane and measured along its flight path vertical profiles of ozone concentration and aerosol backscatter between the surface and approximately 2500 m above ground level. This presentation will focus on how the three-dimensional distribution of ozone in the Houston area observed with the airborne lidar was influenced by atmospheric flow patterns, in particular the land-sea breeze circulation. To determine the transport pathways of ozone plumes detected with the airborne lidar we relied on back trajectory calculations using data from the wind profiler network deployed during the Texas 2000 Air Quality Study. In addition, we will present measurements of boundary layer depth, derived from the lidar aerosol profiles, and assess how the spatial variability of mixing depth observed in the Houston area affected the ozone distribution and ozone peak values.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002AGUFM.A21F..04S
- Keywords:
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- 0345 Pollution: urban and regional (0305)