Unraveling the sources of ground level ozone in the Intermountain Western United States using Pb isotopes.
Ozone as an atmospheric pollutant is largely produced by anthropogenic precursors and can significantly impact human and ecosystem health, and climate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently proposed lowering the ozone standard from 75 ppbv (MDA8 = Maximum Daily 8-Hour Average) to between 65 and 70 ppbv. This will result in remote areas of the Intermountain West that includes many U.S. National Parks being out of compliance, despite a lack of significant local sources. We used Pb isotope fingerprinting and back-trajectory analysis to distinguish sources of imported ozone to Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada. During discrete Chinese Pb events (> 1.1 ng/m(3) & > 80% Asian Pb) trans-Pacific transported ozone was 5 ± 5.5 ppbv above 19 year averages for those dates. In contrast, concentrations during regional transport from the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas were 15 ± 2 ppbv above the long-term averages, and those characterized by high-altitude transport 3 days prior to sampling were 19 ± 4ppbv above. However, over the study period the contribution of trans-Pacific transported ozone increased at a rate of 0.8 ± 0.3 ppbv/year, suggesting that Asian inputs will exceed regional and high altitude sources by 2015-2020. All of these sources will impact regulatory compliance with a new ozone standard, given increasing global background.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States.
John N
JN
Christensen
University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States.
Peter
P
Weiss-Penzias
University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States.
Rebekka
R
Fine
University of California at Davis, Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, Davis, CA, United States.
Charles E
CE
McDade
University of California at Davis, Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, Davis, CA, United States.
Krystyna
K
Trzepla
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States.
Shaun T
ST
Brown
University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States.
Mae Sexauer
MS
Gustin
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D058735:Environmental Policy; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis*; D015141:Los Angeles; D009505:Nevada; D010126:Ozone / Q000032:analysis*; D014481:United States; D014484:United States Environmental Protection Agency
D000393:Air Pollutants; D007854:Lead; D010126:Ozone
Aerosols; Long-range transport; Ozone; Pb isotopes