A034-0019
Background Ozone above the Colorado Front Range during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tuesday, 8 December 2020
Poster
Andrew O'Neil Langford1, Raul J Alvarez II1, Alan Brewer1, Brandi McCarty1,2, Scott Sandberg1, Sunil Baidar1,3, Christoph J Senff1,4, Ann M Weickmann1,5 and Michael Zucker1,4, (1)NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)Cooperative Institute for research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, United States, (3)Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (5)Cooperative Institute for research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
The unprecedented decrease in vehicular traffic, oil and gas production, and other human activities along the Colorado Front Range in response to the COVID-19 pandemic led to a marked decrease in emissions of NOx and VOCs, the photochemical precursors of O3, between April and June of 2020. This hiatus occurred well before the midsummer peak in photochemical activity, however, and coincided with the springtime maximum in background O3 across the Southwestern U.S., confounding our ability to quantify the impact of the decreased emissions on surface O3 concentrations. In this study, we use profiles from the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) TOPAZ O3 lidar, together with in-situ sampling and Doppler lidar measurements, to quantify the ozone background above Boulder, Colorado during the COVID-19 hiatus.
<< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract