Aerosol chemical and optical properties during the Mt. Zirkel Visibility Study

Aerosol chemical and optical properties were measured near the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness Area in northwestern Colorado. Six-hour PM2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 microm) mass concentrations and PM2.5 dry particle light scattering at 550 nm averaged 4.6 microg m(-3) and 8.6 Mm(-1), respectively. Sulfates, organic carbon, and geological material were the principle components of particle mass and light scattering. Hygroscopic growth was consistent with that expected for ammonium sulfate aerosols. Size distributions derived from three-wavelength (i.e., 450, 550, and 700 nm) nephelometer data were similar to those measured in other remote areas of the western USA. Quasi-dry chemical light scattering efficiencies derived using Mie theory were 3.6 m2 g(-1) for organic carbon, 2.5 m2 g(-1) for sulfates (ammonium sulfate and ammonium bisulfate), 2.6 m2 g(-1) for ammonium nitrate, and 1.76 m2 g(-1) for geological material. These values are lower than but consistent with previously reported results. Realistic efficiencies could not be derived using the multiple linear regression (MLR) approach.

Pollutant transport during a regional O3-episode in the mid-Atlantic states

Ozone (O3) concentrations in the Baltimore-Washington (B-W) metropolitan area frequently exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in the summer months. The most extreme O3 events occur in multi-day high O3 episodes. These events can be regional in scale, with O3 concentrations exceeding the NAAQS at numerous locations along the eastern U.S. seaboard, and are typically associated with slow-moving or stagnant high pressure systems. In the B-W region, the most extreme events typically occur with surface high pressure overhead or just west of the region and an upper air high-pressure area (ridge) to the west or northwest. Besides providing conditions conductive to local O3 production (subsidence and strong low-level inversions, weak horizontal winds, little cloud cover), this weather pattern may also result in transport of O3 and its precursors from heavily industrialized areas west and north of the B-W region. In this paper, observations and back trajectories made during the severe regional O3 event of July 12-15, 1995, are used to confirm the hypothesis that significant regional-scale transport of O3 and its precursors occur during extreme O3 events of the standard type in the B-W area.

Formation and transport of secondary air pollutants: ozone and aerosols in the St. Louis urban plume

Emissions from metropolitan St. Louis caused reduced visibilities and concentrations of ozone in excess of the federal ambient standard (0.08 part per million) 160 kilometers or more downwind of the city on 18 July 1975. Atmospheric production of ozone and visibility-reducing aerosols continues long after their primary precursors have been diluted to low concentrations.