title: Three-dimensional investigation of ozone pollution in the lower troposphere using an unmanned aerial vehicle platform.
abstract: Potential utilities of instrumented lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to quickly characterize tropospheric ozone pollution and meteorological factors including air temperature and relative humidity at three-dimensional scales are highlighted in this study. Both vertical and horizontal variations of ozone within the 1000 m lower troposphere at a local area of 4 × 4 km2are investigated during summer and autumn times. Results from field measurements show that the UAV platform has a sufficient reliability and precision in capturing spatiotemporal variations of ozone and meteorological factors. The results also reveal that ozone vertical variation is mainly linked to the vertical distribution patterns of air temperature and the horizontal transport of air masses from other regions. In addition, significant horizontal variations of ozone are also observed at different levels. Without major exhaust sources, ozone horizontal variation has a strong correlation with the vertical convection intensity of air masses within the lower troposphere. Higher air temperatures are usually related to lower ozone horizontal variations at the localized area, whereas underlying surface diversity has a week influence. Three-dimensional ozone maps are obtained using an interpolation method based on UAV collected samples, which are capable of clearly demonstrating the diurnal evolution processes of ozone within the 1000 m lower troposphere.
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications Research, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications Research, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Sheng
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications Research, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: qclu@sjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qing-Chang
authors.initials: QC
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications Research, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; China Institute for Urban Governance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, PO Box 115706, Gainesville, FL 32611-5706, USA. Electronic address: zrpeng@sjtu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhong-Ren
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications Research, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Si-Jia
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications Research, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Bai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center for Intelligent Transportation Systems and Unmanned Aerial Systems Applications Research, State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D000401:Aircraft / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008685:Meteorological Concepts; D010126:Ozone / Q000032:analysis*; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D010126:Ozone
keywords: Drone; Ozone horizontal variation; Tropospheric ozone; Vertical profiling