Variability of ozone air quality indicators in selected metropolitan statistical areas

This article analyzes numerical variability in ozone air quality data to understand how this variability affects the number of violations seen each year in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Three commonly cited violation indices are used: 1) the annual number of expected exceedances averaged over 3 years is greater than 1; 2) the n+ 1th hourly value in n years of data is greater than 0.12 ppm; and 3) the annual number of expected exceedances is greater than 1. Only the first index is consistent with applicable regulations. The analyses indicate that about 23 percent of all MSAs with valid data had one or more change in their ozone violation status between 1979 and 1987. This change in status occurred for approximately 7 percent of all MSA-years of available data. This statistic was about one-third of the value usually obtained when the two incorrect, but commonly used, criteria of ozone violations are used.