Modeling the Canadian southern Atlantic region oxidants: A study of a Canadian EMEFS‐1 hyperintensive period

Abstract

The roles and mechanisms of transport and chemical transformation affecting surface ozone in the Canadian southern Atlantic region (SAR) are investigated using a three‐dimensional Eulerian comprehensive modeling system. The investigation is focused a regional ozone episode over the eastern North America during the first week of August 1988. The model performance is evaluated with available observations during this period. The model is shown to reproduce the general features of this regional episode, with better performance for the sites with clear local photochemical activities than for those strongly influenced by complex coastal flow. It is shown from the reconstructed time history of various processes along the backward trajectories originating from a site in Nova Scotia that the elevated ground‐level ozone in the SAR during the study period was associated with transport at low levels, under a strong southwesterly flow. The high ozone brought to the site was mostly produced within the stable marine boundary layer from precursors picked up earlier over the emission area on the east coast of the United States. A second transport situation was also simulated and shown to be associated with transport aloft that was never mixed to the surface. This study also shows that differential advection, due to stable stratification and vertical shear of horizontal wind, can deform surface‐based plumes to produce elevated layers of pollutants over the Gulf of Maine.