Investigation of Vertical Profiles of Meteorological Parameters and Ozone Concentration in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area

Abstract

In the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA), ozone (O₃) concentration is still higher than in other urban areas in developed countries. In order to reveal the current state of photochemical air pollution and to provide data for validation of chemical transport models, vertical profiles of meteorological parameters and ozone concentrations were measured by ozonesonde in two field campaigns: the first one, during the change of season from wet to dry-cold (November 2011) and the second during the drywarm season (March 2012). Unlike previous similar field campaigns, ozonesonde was launched twice daily. The observation data were used to analyze the production and distribution of ozone in the convective boundary layer. The observation days covered a wide range of meteorological conditions, and various profiles were obtained. The evolution of the mixing layer (ML) height was analyzed, revealing that ML evolution was faster during daytime in March 2012 than in November 2011. On a day in November 2011, the early-morning strong wind and the resulting vertical mixing was observed to have brought the high-ozone-concentration air-mass to the ground and caused relatively high surface ozone concentration in the morning. The amount of produced ozone in the MCMA was estimated by taking the difference between the two profiles on each day. In addition to the well-known positive correlation between daily maximum temperature and ozone production, effect of the ML height and wind stagnation was identified for a day in March 2012 when the maximum ground-level ozone concentration was observed during the two field campaigns. The relatively low ventilation coefficient in the morning and the relatively high value in the afternoon on this day implied efficient accumulation of the O₃ precursors and rapid production of O₃ in the ML.