The photochemistry of synoptic-scale ozone synthesis: Implications for the global tropospheric ozone budget

The oxidation of nonmethane hydrocarbons represents a source of tropospheric ozone that is primarily confined to the boundary layers of several highly industrialized regions. (Each region has an area greater than one million km²). Using a photochemical model, the global tropospheric ozone budget is reexamined by including the in-situ production from these localized regimes. The results from these calculations suggest that the net source due to this photochemistry, which takes place on the synoptic scale, is approximately as large as the amount calculated for global scale photochemical processes which consider only the oxidation of methane and carbon monoxide. Such a finding may have a considerable impact on our understanding of the tropospheric ozone budget. The model results for ozone show reasonable agreement with the climatological summer distribution of ozone and the oxides of nitrogen at the surface and with the vertical distribution of ozone and nonmethane hydrocarbons obtained during a 1980 field program.