The Evaluation of the Tropospheric Ozone Variability in the Municipality of Suceava from the Meteorological Perspective

Abstract

Abstract The daily, monthly and annual variations of the tropospheric ozone in the area of Suceava municipality are described and explained by using the correlations between the ozone concentration and the local meteorological parameters. The meteorological parameters are as follows: the air temperature, the air humidity, the sunshine duration, the wind speed and direction. All parameters represent hourly datasets recorded in the interval 2004-2007. The Pearson correlation coefficients and the linear regressions were obtained for daily, monthly and yearly scales. Significant positive correlations between the O3 and the temperature and strong negative correlations between the O3 and the air humidity were found, especially between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., during the warm season. The sunshine duration and the wind speed and direction were found to have weaker, but good positive correlation with the O3 during the same hourly interval. The weekend effect of the ozone exists in the City of Suceava too, as the reduced road traffic during the weekend causes higher concentrations of ozone. The wavelet analyses were conducted in order to further explain the variability of the ozone.