Pollutant transport during a regional O3-episode in the mid-Atlantic states

Ozone (O3) concentrations in the Baltimore-Washington (B-W) metropolitan area frequently exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in the summer months. The most extreme O3 events occur in multi-day high O3 episodes. These events can be regional in scale, with O3 concentrations exceeding the NAAQS at numerous locations along the eastern U.S. seaboard, and are typically associated with slow-moving or stagnant high pressure systems. In the B-W region, the most extreme events typically occur with surface high pressure overhead or just west of the region and an upper air high-pressure area (ridge) to the west or northwest. Besides providing conditions conductive to local O3 production (subsidence and strong low-level inversions, weak horizontal winds, little cloud cover), this weather pattern may also result in transport of O3 and its precursors from heavily industrialized areas west and north of the B-W region. In this paper, observations and back trajectories made during the severe regional O3 event of July 12-15, 1995, are used to confirm the hypothesis that significant regional-scale transport of O3 and its precursors occur during extreme O3 events of the standard type in the B-W area.