OZONE FORMATION AND THE SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF PRECURSOR EMISSIONS IN SYDNEY

Precursor concentration distributions have been reported for Sydney and the implications of these data for O3 control (NMHC [non-methane hydrocarbon concentration] emission reduction) have been presented. In this analysis, a number of relationships between NMHC concentration, NOx concentration, NMHC/NOx ratio and O3 formation potential parameter (NOx) .times. (NMHC) were constructed from field data. These relationships showed that NMHC emissions into the Sydney airshed were less uniformly distributed than NOx emissions and generated air parcels with higher than typical NMHC/NOx ratio and air parcels with higher than typical NMHC/NOx ratio were those with the highest O3 formation potential. The relationships suggested that emission control of large undistributed NMHC sources may be more important than control of distributed NMHC sources.