References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-7-5327-2007

The weekend effect within and downwind of Sacramento – Part 1: Observations of ozone, nitrogen oxides, and VOC reactivity

Murphy

J. G.

¹ ⁴ Day

D. A.

¹ ⁵ Cleary

P. A.

¹ ⁶ Wooldridge

P. J.

¹ Millet

D. B.

² ⁷ Goldstein

A. H.

² Cohen

R. C.

¹ ³

University of California at Berkeley, Department of Chemistry, USA

University of California at Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, USA

University of California at Berkeley, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, USA

now at: Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Canada

now at: University of California at Davis, Land, Air and Water Resources Department, USA

now at: University of Pennsylvania, Department of Chemistry, USA

now at: Harvard University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, USA

16 10 2007

7 20 5327 5339

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/5327/2007/acp-7-5327-2007.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/5327/2007/acp-7-5327-2007.pdf

Day-of-week patterns in human activities can be used to examine the ways in which differences in primary emissions result in changes in the rates of photochemical reactions, and the production of secondary pollutants. Data from twelve California Air Resources Board monitoring sites in Sacramento, CA, and the downwind Mountain Counties air basin are analyzed to reveal day of week patterns in ozone and its precursors in the summers of 1998–2002. Measurements of non-methane hydrocarbons are available for the summers of 2001–2003 at three of these sites and NOx at six of these sites for the full time period. This routine monitoring data is complemented by data sets of ozone and nitrogen oxide concentrations obtained in the summers of 2001 and 2003 at three sites in the region and comprehensive measurements of VOC reactivity at two sites in 2001. Daytime concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx&equiv;NO+NO2) are approximately 35% lower on weekends at all the sites, whereas the VOC reactivity changes by less than 10%. All six sites in the Sacramento Valley have higher 8-h maximum average ozone on the weekend and are more likely to exceed the national standard of 85 ppb on the weekend. In contrast, all the sites in the Mountain Counties are less likely to exceed the federal ozone standard on the weekend. Analysis of the day-of-week trends in odd oxygen show that the weekend effect of ozone within Sacramento is strongly influenced by NO sources close to the monitoring sites. This suggests that ozone measurements from monitoring sites close to highways, including two rural locations, may not be representative of the regional abundance, and lead to underestimates of long term exposure for humans and ecosystems.

References 1

D. o. Finance: Revised Historical City, County and State Population Estimates, 1991–2000, with 1990 and 2000 Census Counts., State of California, 2002.

Altshuler, S. L., Arcado, T. D., and Lawson, D. R.: Weekday vs weekend ambient ozone concentrations - discussion and hypotheses with focus on Northern California, J. Air Waste Manage., 45, 967–972, 1995.

Ashworth, J. R.: The influence of smoke and hot gases from factory chimneys on rainfall, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 55, 841–850, 1929.

Bauer, M. R., Hultman, N. E., Panek, J. A., and Goldstein, A. H.: Ozone deposition to a ponderosa pine plantation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (CA): A comparison of two different climatic years, J. Geophys. Res., 105(D17), 22 123–22 136, doi:10.1029/2000JD900168, 2000.

Beirle, S., Platt, U., Wenig, M., and Wagner, T.: Weekly cycle of NO2 by GOME measurements: a signature of anthropogenic sources, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 3, 2225–2232, 2003.

Blanchard, C. L. and Fairley, D.: Spatial mapping of VOC and NOx-limitation of ozone formation in central California, Atmos. Environ., 35, 3861–3873, 2001.

Blanchard, C. L. and Tanenbaum, S. J.: Differences between weekday and weekend air pollutant levels in southern California, J. Air Waste Manage., 53, 816–828, 2003.

Bronnimann, S. and Neu, U.: Weekend-weekday differences of near-surface ozone concentrations in Switzerland for different meteorological conditions, Atmos. Environ., 31, 1127–1135, 1997.

California Air Resources Board: The Ozone Weekend Effect in California, CARB Planning and Technical Support Division, Sacramento, 2003.

California Air Resources Board Air Quality Database: www.arb.ca.gov/aqd/aqdpage.

Carroll, J. J. and Dixon, A. J.: Regional scale transport over complex terrain, a case study: tracing the Sacramento plume in the Sierra Nevada of California, Atmos. Environ., 36, 3745–3758, 2002.

Cleary, P. A., Wooldridge, P. J., and Cohen, R. C.: Laser-induced fluorescence detection of atmospheric NO2 with a commercial diode laser and a supersonic expansion, Appl. Opt., 41, 6950–6956, 2002.

Cleary, P. A., Murphy, J. G., Wooldridge, P. J., Day, D. A., Millet, D. B., Goldstein, A. H., and Cohen, R. C.: Observations of total alkyl nitrates within the Sacramento urban plume, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 5, 4801–4843, 2005.

Cleary, P. A., Wooldridge, P. J., Millet, D. B., McKay, M., Goldstein, A. H., and Cohen, R. C.: Observations of total peroxy nitrates and aldehydes: measurement interpretation and inference of OH radical concentrations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 1947–1960, 2007.

Cleveland, W. S., Graedel, T. E., Kleiner, B., and Warner, J. L.: Sunday And workday variations in photochemical air pollutants in New-Jersey and New-York, Science, 186, 1037–1038, 1974.

Cleveland, W. S. and McRae, J. E.: Weekday-weekend ozone concentrations in Northeast United-States, Environ. Sci. Technol., 12, 558–563, 1978.

Day, D. A., Wooldridge, P. J., Dillon, M. B., Thornton, J. A., and Cohen, R. C.: A thermal dissociation laser-induced fluorescence instrument for in situ detection of NO2, peroxy nitrates, alkyl nitrates, and HNO3, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D6), doi:10.1029/2001JD000779, 2002.

Day, D. A.: Observations of NO2, total peroxynitrates, total alkyl nitrates, and HNO3 in the mid-Sierras and Sacramento plume using Thermal Dissociation – Laser Induced Fluorescence, University of California, 207 pp., 2003.

Dillon, M. B., Lamanna, M. S., Schade, G. W., Goldstein, A. H., and Cohen, R. C.: Chemical evolution of the Sacramento urban plume: Transport and oxidation, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D5), 4045, doi:10.1029/2001JD000969, 2002.

Elkus, B. and Wilson, K. R.: Photochemical air pollution – Weekend weekday differences, Atmos. Environ., 11, 509–515, 1977.

Fitz, D. R.: Evaluation of NOy and Nitric Acid Measurement Methods and Collection of Ambient Data, California Air Resources Board, 2002.

Fujita, E. M., Stockwell, W. R., Campbell, D. E., Keislar, R. E., and Lawson, D. R.: Evolution of the magnitude and spatial extent of the weekend ozone effect in California's South Coast Air Basin, 1981–2000, J. Air Waste Manage., 53, 802–815, 2003.

Gordon, A. H.: Weekdays Warmer Than Weekends, Nature, 367, 325–326, 1994.

Harley, R. A., Marr, L. C., Lehner, J. K., and Giddings, S. N.: Changes in motor vehicle emissions on diurnal to decadal time scales and effects on atmospheric composition, Environ. Sci. Technol., 39, 5356–362, 2005.

Heard, D. E. and Pilling, M. J.: Measurement of OH and HO2 in the troposphere, Chem. Rev., 103, 5163–5198, 2003.

Heuss, J. M., Kahlbaum, D. F., and Wolff, G. T.: Weekday/weekend ozone differences: What can we learn from them?, J. Air Waste Manage., 53, 772–788, 2003.

Husar, R. B.: Seasonal and Weekly Pattern of Ozone over the OTAG Region, paper presented at Air and Waste Management Association's 90th Annual Meeting & Exhibition, Abstr.-No.: 98-A942, 1998.

Jacobson, J. S.: Comparison of Weekend-Weekday Ozone and Hydrocarbon Concentrations in Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, Atmos. Environ., 9, 1040–1040, 1975.

Jacobson, M. Z.: Studying the effects of aerosols on vertical photolysis rate coefficient and temperature profiles over an urban airshed, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 10 593–10 604, 1998.

Jimenez, P., Parra, R., Gasso, S., and Baldasano, J. M.: Modeling the ozone weekend effect in very complex terrains: a case study in the Northeastern Iberian Peninsula, Atmos. Environ., 39, 429–444, 2005.

Karl, T. R.: Day of Week Variations of Photo-Chemical Pollutants in St-Louis Area, Atmos. Environ., 12, 1657–1667, 1978.

Lamanna, M. S. and Goldstein, A. H.: In situ measurements of C2-C$_10$ volatile organic compounds above a Sierra Nevada ponderosa pine plantation, J. Geophys. Res., 104(D17), 21 247–21 262, doi:10.1029/1999JD900289, 1999.

Marr, L. C. and Harley, R. A.: Modeling the effect of weekday-weekend differences in motor vehicle emissions on photochemical air pollution in central California, Environ. Sci. Technol., 36, 4099–4106, 2002a.

Marr, L. C. and Harley, R. A.: Spectral analysis of weekday-weekend differences in ambient ozone, nitrogen oxide, and non-methane hydrocarbon time series in California, Atmos. Environ., 36, 2327–2335, 2002b.

National Research Council: Air Quality Management in the United States, The National Academies Press, 2004.

Paschalidou, A. K. and Kassomenos, P. A.: Comparison of air pollutant concentrations between weekdays and weekends in Athens, Greece for various meteorological conditions, Environ. Technol., 25, 1241–1255, 2004.

Pont, V. and Fontan, J.: Comparison between weekend and weekday ozone concentration in large cities in France, Atmos. Environ., 35, 1527–1535, 2001.

Pryor, S. C. and Steyn, D. G.: Hebdomadal and Diurnal Cycles in Ozone Time-Series From the Lower Fraser Valley, BC, Atmos. Environ., 29, 1007–1019, 1995.

Pun, B. K., Seigneur, C., and White, W.: Day-of-week behavior of atmospheric ozone in three US cities, J. Air Waste Manage., 53, 789–801, 2003.

Qin, Y., Tonnesen, G. S.. and Wang, Z.: Weekend/weekday differences of ozone, NOx, CO, VOCs, PM$_10 $ and the light scatter during ozone season in southern California, Atmos. Environ., 38, 3069–3087, 2004.

Rubin, J. I., Kean, A. J., Harley, R. A., Millet, D. B., and Goldstein, A. H.: Temperature dependence of volatile organic compound evaporative emissions from motor vehicles, J. Geophys. Res., D03305, doi:10.1029/2005JD006458, 2006.

Sillman, S.: The Use Of NOy, H2O2, and HNO3 as indicators for ozone-NOx-hydrocarbon sensitivity in urban locations, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 14 175–14 188, 1995.

Vukovich, F. M.: The spatial variation of the weekday/weekend differences in the Baltimore area, J. Air Waste Manage., 50, 2067–2072, 2000.

Vukovich, F. M. and Scarborough, J.: 15-year simulation of ozone in Baltimore using SIPM, Atmos. Environ., 38, 4825–4837, 2004.

Wendisch, M., Mertes, S., Ruggaber, A., and Nakajima, T.: Vertical profiles of aerosol and radiation and the influence of a temperature inversion: Measurements and radiative transfer calculations, J. Appl. Meteorol., 35, 1703–1715, 1996.

Winer, A. M., Peters, J. W., Smith, J. P., and Pitts, J. N.: Response Of Commercial Chemiluminescent NO-NO2 Analyzers To Other Nitrogen-Containing Compounds, Environ. Sci. Technol., 8, 1118–1121, 1974.

Yarwood, G., Stoeckenius, T. E., Heiken, J. G., and Dunker, A. M.: Modeling weekday/weekend Los Angeles region for 1997, J. Air Waste Manage., 53, 864–875, 2003.

Zaremba, L. L. and Carroll, J. J.: Summer wind flow regimes over the Sacramento Valley, J. Appl. Meteorol., 38, 1463–1473, 1999.

Zhong, S. Y., Whiteman, C. D., and Bian, X. D.: Diurnal evolution of three-dimensional wind and temperature structure in California's Central Valley, J. Appl. Meteorol., 43, 1679–1699, 2004.