Role of Concentration and Time of Day in Developing Ozone Exposure Indices for a Secondary Standard

Evidence from exposure-response studies and a turbulent transfer model demonstrate that plant response is differential to concentration, duration, temporal pattern, and time of day of exposure. Reductions in productivity of crops and trees as seedlings are greater when plants are exposed to higher daytime ozone (O3) concentrations (0800-2000 hr standard time) or for longer durations. Primary evidence on the greater role of concentration comes from exposure-response experiments where plants are exposed to a series of pollutant concentrations in open-top chambers under field conditions. These studies demonstrate that the integrated exposure indices that give preferential weight to higher concentrations are better predictors of response than mean or peak indices. Evidence suggesting that mid-range O3 concentrations (0.05-0.09 parts per million, ppm) play a greater role than higher concentrations (>0.09 ppm) in biological response could not be justified. The time of day when O3 concentrations and atmospheric and stomatal conductances of gas exchange are optimal is a key to understanding plant response because plants respond only to O3 entering the leaf via stomata. A turbulent transfer model that describes the resistance of pollutant gas exchange from the atmosphere to the boundary layer of a forest canopy, as a function of micrometeorological variables, is developed to determine when flux of O3 is optimal. Based on meteorological and ambient air quality monitoring data at remote forest sites in the United States, it appears that O3 flux densities to the forest boundary layer are optimal during the 0800-2000 hr window. It is concluded that descriptors of ambient air quality for use in setting a federal standard should (1) cumulate hourly O3 concentrations, (2) give preferential weight to daytime concentrations between 0800 and 2000 hr, and (3) give preferential weight to higher O3 concentrations.