Influence of ozone precursors and particulate matter on the variation of surface ozone at an urban site of Delhi, India

Abstract

Continuous measurements of surface O3 and its precursors (NO, NO2, CO, CH4 and NMHCs) at an urban site of Delhi, India during January 2012 to December 2013 are presented. In the present study, the annual average mixing ratios of surface O3, NO, NO2, CO, CH4 and NMHC were 30 ± 6 ppb, 24 ± 6 ppb, 15 ± 4 ppb, 1.5 ± 0.4 ppm, 2.4 ± 0.4 ppm and 0.4 ± 0.1 ppm, respectively. The maximum average mixing ratios of surface O3, NO and NO2 were observed during the summer, whereas, the minimum average mixing ratios of ambient NO and NO2 were during monsoon seasons. The surface O3, NO and NO2 have shown the prominent diurnal variations during all the seasons at the observational site of Delhi. The result reveals that the surface O3 was negatively correlated with NOx and CO during the study. The linear scatter plot analysis shows that the PM2.5 and PM10 present in the ambient air of Delhi influence the production of surface O3 at observational site.

Keywords

• Ozone
• Ozone precursors
• Seasonal variation
• Particulates