Changes in diurnal patterns related to changes in ozone levels

Ozone is an ubiquitous air pollutant that affects both human health and vegetation. There is concern about the number of hours human populations in nonattainment areas in the United States are exposed to levels of O3 at which effects have been observed. As improvement in air quality is achieved, it is possible that O3 control strategies may produce distributions of 1-h O3 concentrations that result in different diurnal profiles that produce greater potential exposures to O3 at known effects levels for multiple hours of the day. These concerns have prompted new analysis of aerometric data. In this analysis, the change in the seasonally averaged diurnal pattern was investigated as changes in O3 levels occurred. For the data used in this analysis, 25 of the 36 sites that changed compliance status across years showed no statistically significant change in the shape of the average diurnal profile (averaged by O3 season). For 71 percent (10 out of 14) of the sites in southern California and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, that showed improvement in O3 levels (i.e., reductions in the number of exceedances over the years), but still remained in nonattainment, a statistically significant change in the shape of the seasonally averaged diurnal profile occurred. Based on the results obtained in this study, the evaluation of diurnal patterns may be useful for identifying the influence of changes in emission levels versus meteorological variation on attainment status. Using data from the southern California and Dallas-Fort Worth sites, which showed improvements in O3 levels, changes were observed in the seasonally averaged diurnal profiles.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)