Spatiotemporal trends in ground-level ozone concentrations and metrics in France over the time period 1999–2012

Abstract

The hourly ozone (O3) data from 332 background monitoring stations, spread in France, were analyzed over the period 1999–2012 and short-term trends were calculated. In the current climate change context, the calculation of human health- and vegetation-relevant metrics, and of associated trends, provides a consistent method to establish proper and effective policies to reduce the adverse O3 effects. The generation of optimal O3 maps, for risk and exposure assessment, is challenging. To overcome this issue, starting from a set of stations, a hybrid regression-interpolation approach was proposed. Annual surface O3 metrics, O3 human health metrics (number of exceedances of daily maximum 8-h values greater than 60 ppb and SOMO35) and O3 vegetation impact metrics (AOT40 for vegetation and forests) were investigated at individual sites. Citizens are more exposed to high O3 levels in rural areas than people living in the cities. The annual mean concentrations decreased by −0.12ppbyear−1 at rural stations, and the significant reduction at 67% of stations, particularly during the warm season, in the number of episodic high O3 concentrations (e.g. 98th percentile, −0.19ppbyear−1) can be associated with the substantial reductions in NOx and VOCs emissions in the EU-28 countries since the early 1990s Inversely, the O3 background level is rising at 76% of urban sites (+0.14ppbyear−1), particularly during the cold period. This rise can be attributed to increases in imported O3 by long-range transport and to a low O3 titration by NO due to the reduction in local NOx emissions. The decrease in health-related and vegetation-relevant O3 metrics, at almost all stations, is driven by decreases in regional photochemical O3 formation and in peak O3 concentrations. The short-term trends highlight that the threat to population and vegetation declined between 1999 and 2012 in France, demonstrating the success of European control strategies over the last 20 years. However, for all exposure metrics, the issue of non-attainment of the target value for O3 persists in comparison with the objectives of air quality directives. The region at highest O3 risk is the South-eastern France. This study contains new information on the i) spatial distribution of surface O3 concentration, ii) exceedances and iii) trends to define more suitable standards for human health and environmental protection in France.