How meteorology affects ozone formation and why it matters (Invited Presentation)

.Model-based studies of ozone formation are done for a variety of reasons: to identify the geographical and chemical sources of ozone, identify successful control strategies, and forecast future ozone events. Models for ozone formation often generate reasonable predictions for ozone itself, but it is much more difficult to correctly predict ozone-precursor relationships, or even to know whether those predictions are correct. Meteorological processes affect ozone modeling in many non-obvious ways. Meteorological dispersion affects both the rate of ozone formation and the efficiency of ozone formation per precursor emissions, and can affect the relative importance of different precursors (hydrocarbons vs. NOx). Near-surface meteorology is especially important for interpreting surface measurements of ozone precursors. Proper evaluation of ozone models needs to account for the uncertainties associated with meteorological dispersion