Ozone formation potential of organic compounds in the Eastern United States: a comparison of episodes, inventories, and domains

Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Dec 15;38(24):6748-59. doi: 10.1021/es035471a.

Abstract

Direct sensitivity analysis is applied for 3-D assessment of ozone reactivity (or ozone formation potential) in the Eastern United States. A detailed chemical mechanism (SAPRC-99) is implemented in a multiscale air quality model to calculate the reactivity of 32 explicit and 9 lumped compounds. Simulations are carried out for two different episodes and two different emission scenarios. While absolute reactivities of VOCs show a great deal of spatial variability, relative reactivities (normalized to the reactivity of a base mixture) produce a significantly more homogeneous field. Three types of domain-wide relative reactivity metrics are formed for 1-h and 8-h averaging intervals. In general, ozone reactivity metrics (with the exception of those based on daily peak ozone) are fairly robust and consistent between different episodes or emission scenarios. The 3-D metrics also show fairly similar rankings for VOC reactivity when compared to the box model scales. However, the 3-D metrics have a noticeably narrower range for species reactivities, as they result in lower reactivity for some of the more reactive, radical-producing VOCs (especially aldehydes). As expected, episodes and emission scenarios with less radical availability have higher absolute reactivities for all species and higher relative reactivities for the more radical-producing species. Finally, comparing the results with those from a different domain (central California) shows that relative reactivity metrics are comparable over these two significantly different domains.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / analysis*
  • Forecasting
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Organic Chemicals
  • Oxidants, Photochemical / analysis*
  • Ozone / analysis*
  • United States

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Organic Chemicals
  • Oxidants, Photochemical
  • Ozone