Assessment of surface ozone over residential environments

ABSTRACT

Surface ozone [O[3]] has become one of the most important topic of air quality and climate change researches. This is because of causing harmful effects on human health, climate, vegetation and materials. For these reasons, understanding the processes which control the origin, trends, distribution and effects surface O[3] are important. In this paper, the surface O[3] concentration was investigated experimentally and numerically over residential environment. Surface O[3] was measured using Visible blind Ultraviolet sensors [UV Ozone Analyzer] over the period of 2008-2010 in Kuwait international airport. A back trajectory method based on HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory [HYSPLIT] model was used for assessing the surface O[3] over residential environment. The diurnal, and seasonal variations of surface O[3] were analyzed and discussed. Furthermore, the effect of meteorological conditions on the surface O[3] was also analyzed. Diurnal variation shows that maximum O[3] concentration was at the noon and about minimum in the evening. Seasonal variation showed that February was a highest rate of O[3] concentration. Power stations are a major point source for O[3] precursors. The surface O[3] shows a medium correlation with temperature and a week correlation with wind speed