Abstract
The adjacent cities of El Paso in Texas, USA, and Juarez in Mexico commonly experience pollution episodes, especially during the summer months. In the summer of 2017, successive high and low ozone episodes were observed. Aerosol backscattered data from a laser ceilometer was used to monitor and continuously measure the aerosol-layer characteristics. Meteorological parameters together with the aerosol layer height were used to determine the reason behind these successive high and low ozone events. In our research, both modelling and experimental data of the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) were obtained and related to atmospheric stability. Aerosol backscatter data was used to investigate the structure, evolution, and influence of the top of the aerosol layer, which is a proxy for PBLHs. A shallow aerosol layer height (1164 ± 59 m) was observed during the high ozone episodes, in contrast to a deep aerosol layer (1990 ± 79 m) during the low ozone episodes. The ozone precursors, the ozone, and the ground-level aerosol concentrations were also examined during these episodes. It was observed that when the ozone was high, the PM2.5 was high, and when the ozone was low, the PM10 concentrations were high. Analysis of the wind patterns and synoptic scale meteorology also contributed to a better explanation of the nature of these events.
Highlights
Human health is adversely affected by ozone and particulate matter (PM10, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 μg or less, and PM2.5, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μg or less) [1]
A comprehensive study of the successive high and low ozone episodes in June 2017 was performed using both models and instrumentation, to analyze the major factors, e.g., meteorology and ozone precursors, that contributed towards the ozone events
This work was the first systematic, and rigorous planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) analysis performed during the ozone episodes in the El Paso (ELP)–Ciudad Juarez (CDJ) region made using the ceilometer aerosol backscattering and numerical modeling
Summary
Human health is adversely affected by ozone and particulate matter (PM10 , particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 μg or less, and PM2.5 , particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μg or less) [1]. High ozone and particulate matter concentrations affect many major metropolitan cities in the United States, and the El Paso–Juarez airshed is one example. El Paso is a city in the far west corner of Texas, separated only by the Rio Grande River from the Mexican city of Juarez, which is one of the most populous cities in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and is surrounded by the Chihuahua desert. Both cities share the same airshed, the El Paso–Juarez airshed, and in the past, both have violated their air quality standards for ground-level ozone. Its air quality problem is known to be partially due to contributions from industrial activities in the region, and to high emissions from automobiles due to prolonged traffic congestion across the international bridges between the two countries [2,3,4]
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