The Milan photooxidant plume

Abstract

In Switzerland, measurement campaigns including aircraft measurements were carried out in the summers of 1992 and 1993 as part of the Pollution and Meteorology (POLLUMET) study. Ozone (O 3 ) concentrations, up to 185 ppb, with a large spatial variability were found south of the Alps in the afternoon. Comparison to measurements north of the Alps shows that these concentration levels are extraordinarily high for central Europe. Backward trajectories reveal that the highest O 3 levels were found 4–5 hours downwind of Milan, Italy. The measurements suggest a reactive organic gas (ROG) sensitive O 3 production regime 1–3 hours downwind in the plume, and a NO x (sum of nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 )) limitation in air masses not affected by the Milan plume. Air masses originating north of Milan are probably close to the transition zone between the two photochemical regimes. This was found by using measurements of total odd nitrogen (NO y ,), NO, NO 2 , formaldehyde (HCHO), and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) yielding indicators for ROG and NO x sensitive O 3 production. The slope of ozone versus NO z (=NO y −NO x : photochemical products of NO x ) were markedly higher in NO x limited conditions (ΔO 3 /ΔNO z =13.6) than in air masses close to the transition zone (ΔO 3 /ΔNO z =4.2).