Enhancements in nocturnal surface ozone at urban sites in the UK

Kulkarni, Pavan S., Bortoli, D., Silva, A.M. and Reeves, C. E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4071-1926 (2015) Enhancements in nocturnal surface ozone at urban sites in the UK. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 22 (24). pp. 20295-20305. ISSN 0944-1344

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Abstract

Analysis of diurnal patterns of surface ozone (O3) at multiple urban sites in the UK shows the occurrence of prominent nocturnal enhancements during the winter months (November–March). Whilst nocturnal surface ozone (NSO) enhancement events have been observed at other locations, this is the first time that such features have been demonstrated to occur in the UK and the second location globally. The observed NSO enhancement events in the UK were found to be so prevalent that they are clearly discernible in monthly diurnal cycles averaged over several years of data. Long-term (2000–2010) analysis of hourly surface ozone data from 18 urban background stations shows a bimodal diurnal variation during the winter months with a secondary nighttime peak around 0300 hours along with the primary daytime peak. For all but one site, the daily maxima NSO concentrations during the winter months exceeded 60 μg/m3 on >20 % of the nights. The highest NSO value recorded was 118 μg/m3. During the months of November, December, and January, the monthly averaged O3 concentrations observed at night (0300 h) even exceeded those observed in the daytime (1300 h). The analysis also shows that these NSO enhancements can last for several hours and were regional in scale, extending across several stations simultaneously. Interestingly, the urban sites in the north of the UK exhibited higher NSO than the sites in the south of the UK, despite their daily maxima being similar. In part, this seems to be related to the sites in the north typically having lower concentrations of nitrogen oxides.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	bimodal diurnal variation ,uk,nocturnal surface ozone ,urban background stations
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Atmospheric Chemistry (former - to 2018) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climate, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	19 Dec 2015 07:16
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2023 09:36
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/55790
DOI:	10.1007/s11356-015-5259-z

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