The Milan photooxidant plume

In Switzerland, measurement campaigns including aircraft measurements were carried out in the summers of 1992 and 1993 as part of the Pollution and Meteorology (POLLUMET) study. Ozone (O3) concentrations, up to 185 ppb, with a large spatial variability were found south of the Alps in the afternoon. Comparison to measurements north of the Alps shows that these concentration levels are extraordinarily high for central Europe. Backward trajectories reveal that the highest O3 levels were found 4–5 hours downwind of Milan, Italy. The measurements suggest a reactive organic gas (ROG) sensitive O3 production regime 1–3 hours downwind in the plume, and a NOx (sum of nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) limitation in air masses not affected by the Milan plume. Air masses originating north of Milan are probably close to the transition zone between the two photochemical regimes. This was found by using measurements of total odd nitrogen (NOy,), NO, NO2, formaldehyde (HCHO), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) yielding indicators for ROG and NOx sensitive O3 production. The slope of ozone versus NOz (=NOy−NOx: photochemical products of NOx) were markedly higher in NOx limited conditions (ΔO3/ΔNOz=13.6) than in air masses close to the transition zone (ΔO3/ΔNOz=4.2).