Stratospheric contribution to surface ozone in the desert Southwest during the 2013 Las Vegas Ozone Study

Andrew O'Neil Langford1, Christoph J Senff2, Raul J Alvarez II II1, Jerome F Brioude3, Owen Roger Cooper4, John S Holloway3, Meiyun Lin5, Richard Marchbanks3, R Bradley Pierce6, Patrick J Reddy7, Scott Sandberg2, Ann M Weickmann8, Eric J Williams1, Mae Sexauer Gustin9, Laura T Iraci10, Thierry Leblanc11 and Emma L Yates12, (1)NOAA ESRL, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, United States, (3)CIRES/NOAA Earth Systems Lab, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)CIRES/NOAA Earth Systems Lab, Boulder, United States, (5)NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, United States, (6)NOAA/NESDIS, Center for Satellite Application and Research, Madison, United States, (7)APCD-TSP-B1, Denver, CO, United States, (8)Cooperative Institute for research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (9)University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Reno, United States, (10)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States, (11)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Table Mountain Facility, Pasadena, CA, United States, (12)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States
Abstract:
The 2013 Las Vegas Ozone Study (LVOS) was designed to investigate the potential impact of stratosphere-troposphere transport (STT) and long-range transport of pollution from Asia on surface O3 concentrations in Clark County, NV. This measurement campaign, which took place in May and June of 2013, was conducted at Angel Peak, NV, a high elevation site about 2.8 km above mean sea level and 45 km west of Las Vegas. The study was organized around the NOAA ESRL truck-based TOPAZ scanning ozone lidar with collocated in situ sampling of O3, CO, and meteorological parameters. These measurements were supported by the NOAA/NESDIS real time modelling system (RAQMS), FLEXPART particle dispersion model, and the NOAA GFDL AM3 model. In this talk, I will describe one of several STT events that occurred during the LVOS campaign. This intrusion, which was profiled by TOPAZ on the night of May 24-25, was also sampled by the NASA Alpha Jet, the Table Mountain ozone lidar, and by an ozonesonde flying above southern California. This event also led to significant ozone increases at surface monitors operated by Clark County, the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. National Park Service, and the Nevada Rural Ozone Initiative (NRVOI), and resulted in exceedances of the 2008 75 ppbv O3 NAAQS both in Clark County and in surrounding areas of Nevada and southern California. The potential implications of this and similar events for air quality compliance in the western U.S. will be discussed.
Back to: Sources of Planetary Boundary Layer and Lower Free Troposphere Ozone and Variability: From Urban to Remote Regions of the United States IV