Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2008, 5(4), 181-203; doi:10.3390/ijerph5040181
Article

Sensitivity Modeling Study for an Ozone Occurrence during the 1996 Paso Del Norte Ozone Campaign

Duanjun Lu 1,* email, Remata S. Reddy 1 , Rosa Fitzgerald 2 , William R. Stockwell 3 , Quinton L. Williams 1  and Paul B. Tchounwou 1
1 Department of Physics, Atmos. Sci. & Geoscience, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Jackson State University, 1400 Lynch Street, Jackson, Mississippi, USA 2 Physics Department, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Avenue El Paso, Texas 79968, USA 3 Howard University Program of Atmospheric Sciences, Howard University, Washington DC 20059, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 10 October 2008 / Accepted: 25 November 2008 / Published: 26 November 2008
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Health: Feature Papers)
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Abstract: Surface ozone pollution has been a persistent environmental problem in the US and Europe as well as the developing countries. A key prerequisite to find effective alternatives to meeting an ozone air quality standard is to understand the importance of local anthropogenic emissions, the significance of biogenic emissions, and the contribution of long-range transport. In this study, an air quality modeling system that includes chemistry and transport, CMAQ, an emission processing model, SMOKE, and a mesoscale numerical meteorological model, WRF, has been applied to investigate an ozone event occurring during the period of the 1996 Paso del Norte Ozone Campaign. The results show that the modeling system exhibits the capability to simulate this high ozone occurrence by providing a comparable temporal variation of surface ozone concentration at one station and to capture the spatial evolution of the event. Several sensitivity tests were also conducted to identify the contributions to high surface ozone concentration from eight VOC subspecies, biogenic VOCs, anthropogenic VOCs and long-range transportation of ozone and its precursors. It is found that the reductions of ETH, ISOP, PAR, OLE and FORM help to mitigate the surface ozone concentration, and like anthropogenic VOCs, biogenic VOC plays a nonnegligible role in ozone formation. But for this case, long-range transport of ozone and its precursors appears to produce an insignificant contribution.
Keywords: Air quality modeling; Sensitivity study; High ozone event; CMAQ; SMOKE; WRF

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Lu, D.; Reddy, R.S.; Fitzgerald, R.; Stockwell, W.R.; Williams, Q.L.; Tchounwou, P.B. Sensitivity Modeling Study for an Ozone Occurrence during the 1996 Paso Del Norte Ozone Campaign. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2008, 5, 181-203.

AMA Style

Lu D, Reddy RS, Fitzgerald R, Stockwell WR, Williams QL, Tchounwou PB. Sensitivity Modeling Study for an Ozone Occurrence during the 1996 Paso Del Norte Ozone Campaign. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2008; 5(4):181-203.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lu, Duanjun; Reddy, Remata S.; Fitzgerald, Rosa; Stockwell, William R.; Williams, Quinton L.; Tchounwou, Paul B. 2008. "Sensitivity Modeling Study for an Ozone Occurrence during the 1996 Paso Del Norte Ozone Campaign." Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 5, no. 4: 181-203.

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