Impact of coastal transportation emissions on inland air pollution over Israel: Utilizing numerical simulations, airborne measurements, and synoptic analyses

D. O. Ranmar*, V. Matveev, U. Dayan, M. Peleg, J. Kaplan, A. W. Gertler, M. Luria, G. Kallos, P. Katsafados, Y. Mahrer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The detection of high ozone levels over large inland areas in Israel during the early, mid and late summer triggered an analysis of air mass back-trajectories. This, in turn, pointed to the transportation system in the metropolitan coastal Tel Aviv region as the possible origin of the ozone's precursors. To link the daily dynamics of rush hour transportation emissions to inland air pollution, in general, and airborne ozone measurements, in particular, an interdisciplinary modeling system was established. The simulations of transportation-to-inland air pollution integrated transportation, emission factor, atmospheric, transport/diffusion, and photochemical models. The modeling results elucidated a spatial and temporal overlap between the ozone precursors and ozone production. The model simulations indicated east to southeasterly dispersion of the pollution cloud. The results agreed well with both spatial and temporal ozone levels as recorded by aircraft over central Israel, as well as with ground-based monitoring station observations. The impact of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area as well as the Gaza Strip, as pivotal coastal transportation sources for inland air pollution in general and ozone formation in particular, is discussed. The synoptic analysis identified the conditions prevailing when elevated air pollution, and especially high ozone levels, exists over central Israel. The analysis showed that this season features a shallow mixed layer and weak zonal flow, which leads to poor ventilation rates and inhibit efficient dispersion of this secondary pollutant. These poor ventilation rates result in the slow transport of ozone precursors, enabling their photochemical transformation under intense solar radiation during their travel from the coast inland. Under these conditions, model results showed that traffic emissions during the morning rush hour from the Tel Aviv metropolitan area contribute about 60% to the observed ozone concentrations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)ACL 5-1-ACL 5-14
JournalJournal of Geophysical Research
Volume107
Issue number17
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

Keywords

  • 0345 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution-urban and regional (0305)
  • Air pollution
  • Emission factors
  • Numerical atmospheric modeling
  • Ozone
  • Photochemical aged air mass
  • Photochemical model
  • Transportation model

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