Regional photochemical modeling in Texas
In recent years, a growing realization of the regional nature of ozone air pollution has generated a number of regional modeling studies to help understand interstate transport of ozone and its precursor pollutants. The most famous of these studies is the work of the Ozone Transport Assessment Group (OTAG), which resulted in the US Environmental Protection Agency issuing a state implementation plan (SIP) call for major nitrogen oxide (NO{sub x}) reductions in most of the Eastern US. In Texas, however, the main interest in regional air pollution studies is intrastate transport. The eastern two-thirds of Texas (which is much larger than the whole of New England) contains three areas in nonattainment of the one-hour ozone standard, and several areas in danger of failing to attain the new eight-hour standard. Current photochemical modeling in Texas uses a nested grid approach to study both transport among these areas within the state and the influx of pollutants from outside Texas. This paper describes current regional modeling activities in Texas and presents the results of several important types of analyses not performed by OTAG, including geographic region-specific NO{sub x}/volatile organic compound (VOC) directional guidance modeling, source-category sensitivity analyses, and estimation of target reduction levels needed to reach attainment. The paper also describes a masking technique used to apply specific reductions to geographic regions, and discusses plans for additional modeling studies in Texas.
- Research Organization:
- Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Austin, TX (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20002107
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-990608-; TRN: IM200002%%107
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Air and Waste 92nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition, St. Louis, MO (US), 06/20/1999--06/24/1999; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating Systems: Windows 3.1, '95, '98 and NT; Macintosh; and UNIX; PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: Air and Waste 92nd annual meeting and exhibition proceedings, [9500] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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