Recommended Citation
August 1, 2013.
Abstract
Ozone is the air pollutant about which we have probably heard the most. Two types of ozone exist: stratospheric and tropospheric. Stratospheric ozone absorbs most of the damaging ultra-violet sunlight and tropospheric ozone comes into direct contact with life-forms and is toxic at high levels. Ozone concentration in California has been studied for over five decades, and there is a long history of control efforts. During 2010, California Air Resources Board (CARB) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted a major climate and air quality study in California called CalNex 2010 (California Research at the Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change). Two goals of this study are to determine the natural ozone concentrations for various sites and whether they vary between central valley and coastal locations. The results show very different ozone behavior between the San Joaquin Valley (central valley) and South Coast (coastal) regions. South Coast ozone concentrations dropped rapidly in comparison to San Joaquin Valley, and the current trends indicate that South Coast ozone concentrations will be much lower than San Joaquin Valley. These differences are now quantifiable, however, future work will comprise of explaining why these differences are occurring despite the uniform control efforts statewide.
Disciplines
Environmental Chemistry | Other Chemistry
Mentor
David Parrish
Lab site
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Earth Systems Research Laboratory (NOAA ESRL)
Funding Acknowledgement
This material is based upon work supported by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0952013 and Grant No. 0934931. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation or the National Science Foundation. This project has also been made possible with support of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The STAR program is administered by the Cal Poly Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education (CESaME) on behalf of the California State University (CSU).
Included in
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/200