TY - JOUR
T1 - An evaluation of the interaction of morning residual layer and afternoon mixed layer ozone in Houston using ozonesonde data
AU - Morris, Gary A.
AU - Ford, Bonne
AU - Rappenglück, Bernhard
AU - Thompson, Anne M.
AU - Mefferd, Ashley
AU - Ngan, Fong
AU - Lefer, Barry
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the work of numerous students at Rice, Valparaiso University, and UH: A. Bryan, S. Boudreaux, A. Chow, B. Day, S. Hersey, S. Holcomb, D. Lutz, M. McCormick, B. Morris, L. Pedemonte, R. Perna, R. Tahiri, M. Taylor, E. Thompson, and J. Wright. We also thank the Federal Aviation Administration, particularly David Svedberg, and the staffs at Rice and UH for accommodating our research; the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory for the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and the READY web site ( http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready.html ); the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory for the WPTT; and to Bryan Lambeth and Wayne Angevine for the LaPorte wind profiler data. Thanks to Bryan Johnson, Walter Komhyr, and Sam Oltmans for useful discussions, and to Holger Volmel for the STRATO software. Finally, thanks to the anonymous reviewers whose comments substantially enhanced this paper. Initial support for TOPP came from the Shell Center for Sustainability at Rice. TOPP is supported by the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, the NASA Division of Earth Science Aura Validation Program, and the NASA Tropospheric Chemistry Program (for IONS). This work was completed while the author was funded by a Fulbright Scholar grant.
PY - 2010/10
Y1 - 2010/10
N2 - The Tropospheric Ozone Pollution Project (TOPP) launched >220 ozonesondes in Houston (July 2004-June 2008) providing examples of pollution transported into, re-circulated within, and exported from the Houston area. Fifty-one launches occurred during the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) II and the summer portion of IONS-06 (INTEX [Intercontinental Transport Experiment] Ozonesonde Network Study). On 11 days during TexAQS II and on 8 other occasions, ozonesondes were launched both at dawn and in the afternoon. Analysis of these " intensive" launch sequences shows that morning residual layer (RL) ozone concentrations ([O3]) explained 60-70% of the variability found in the afternoon mixed layer (ML). Furthermore, maximum RL [O3] is nearly identical to the mean ML [O3] from the previous afternoon (morning minus afternoon = -1.6 ± 8.4 ppbv). During TexAQS II, mean [O3] below 1.3 km (the mean ML height from ozonesonde data) increased from 37 ± 22 ppbv in the morning to 74 ± 18 ppbv in the afternoon, suggesting an average net local daily O3 production of ∼500-900 tons over the metropolitan Houston area.
AB - The Tropospheric Ozone Pollution Project (TOPP) launched >220 ozonesondes in Houston (July 2004-June 2008) providing examples of pollution transported into, re-circulated within, and exported from the Houston area. Fifty-one launches occurred during the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) II and the summer portion of IONS-06 (INTEX [Intercontinental Transport Experiment] Ozonesonde Network Study). On 11 days during TexAQS II and on 8 other occasions, ozonesondes were launched both at dawn and in the afternoon. Analysis of these " intensive" launch sequences shows that morning residual layer (RL) ozone concentrations ([O3]) explained 60-70% of the variability found in the afternoon mixed layer (ML). Furthermore, maximum RL [O3] is nearly identical to the mean ML [O3] from the previous afternoon (morning minus afternoon = -1.6 ± 8.4 ppbv). During TexAQS II, mean [O3] below 1.3 km (the mean ML height from ozonesonde data) increased from 37 ± 22 ppbv in the morning to 74 ± 18 ppbv in the afternoon, suggesting an average net local daily O3 production of ∼500-900 tons over the metropolitan Houston area.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.06.057
DO - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.06.057
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:76249107124
SN - 1352-2310
VL - 44
SP - 4024
EP - 4034
JO - Atmospheric Environment
JF - Atmospheric Environment
IS - 33
ER -
