Impact of U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Emission Increases on Surface Ozone Is Most Pronounced in the Central United States

Details

• Journal Title:
  Environmental Science & Technology
• Personal Author:
  Pozzer, Andrea ; Schultz, Martin G. ; Helmig, Detlev
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service) ; NCEI (National Centers for Environmental Information)
• Description:
  Observations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a surface sampling network and simulation results from the EMAC (ECHAM5/MESSy for Atmospheric Chemistry) model were analyzed to assess the impact of increased emissions of VOCs and nitrogen oxides from U.S. oil and natural gas (O&NG) sources on air quality. In the first step, the VOC observations were used to optimize the magnitude and distribution of atmospheric ethane and higher-alkane VOC emissions in the model inventory for the base year 2009. Observation-based increases of the emissions of VOCs and NOx stemming from U.S. oil and natural gas (O&NG) sources during 2009–2014 were then added to the model, and a set of sensitivity runs was conducted for assessing the influence of the increased emissions on summer surface ozone levels. For the year 2014, the added O&NG emissions are predicted to affect surface ozone across a large geographical scale in the United States. These emissions are responsible for an increased number of days when the averaged 8-h ozone values exceed 70 ppb, with the highest sensitivity being in the central and midwestern United States, where most of the O&NG growth has occurred. These findings demonstrate that O&NG emissions significantly affect the air quality across most of the United States, can regionally offset reductions of ozone precursor emissions made in other sectors, and can have a determining influence on a region’s ability to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) obligations for ozone.
• Keywords:
  Environmental Chemistry General Chemistry
• Source:
  Environmental Science & Technology, 54(19), 12423-12433
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b06983
• ISSN:
  0013-936X ; 1520-5851
• Format:
  PDF
• Publisher:
  American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Pubmed ID:
  32902267
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7547866
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• License:
  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Rights Information:
  CC BY
• Compliance:
  Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a8f5902acfae94a4b636cbfd668391296ab62ddbce6988e3f6c12cef6bd46719
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/58989/noaa_58989_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.60 MB ]