Four Summers of Ozone Profiles Over Beltsville, MD: A Study of Free-Tropospheric and Boundary Layer Ozone
Abstract
A total of over 75 ozonesonde launches were made in Beltsville, MD during the summers of 2004 through 2007 as part of 4 different field campaigns; INTEX Ozonesonde Network Study 2004 (IONS-04, http://croc.gsfc.nasa.gov/intex/ions.html), Howard/NCAS ozonesondes for MDE (Maryland Department of the Environment) Pollution Episodes (http://www.physics1.howard.edu), and the Water Vapor Validation Experiment - Satellite/Sondes 2006 & 2007 (WAVES, http://ecotronics.com/lidar-misc/WAVES.htm). These profiles were used to characterize variability in sources of tropospheric ozone. On average, free-tropospheric ozone was composed of the following: 10% regional convection and lightning-derived NO, 25% stratospheric ozone, with the balance (~65%) a mixture of aged air of indeterminate origin and recently advected ozone. A separate analysis of local emission and boundary layer ozone was performed. The data from 2005 and 2006 includes both nighttime and daytime launches, permitting an investigation between planetary boundary layer processes and surface ozone. In nighttime profiles with above average column ozone in the residual layer, daily maximum 1 hr and 8 hr average surface ozone values were roughly 10 to 15 ppbv greater than days with below average column ozone in the residual layer. These results, as well as vertical profiles, were compared to the NOAA/EPA Operational Air Quality Model forecasts for Beltsville. The model showed a highly negative bias for maximum 1 hr ozone values, but only a slightly negative bias for maximum 8 hr ozone values on days with above average residual layer ozone.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFM.A53C1363Y
- Keywords:
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- 0341 Middle atmosphere: constituent transport and chemistry (3334);
- 0345 Pollution: urban and regional (0305;
- 0478;
- 4251);
- 3307 Boundary layer processes;
- 3362 Stratosphere/troposphere interactions