Near-surface Ozone Concentrations in the City of Auckland, New Zealand

The research was aimed at studying ozone (O3) concentrations and the influence of the most relevant meteorological variables on an average coastal New Zealand city where precursor emissions are mainly due to traffic exhaust. It investigates the formation and transport mechanisms of O3 in Auckland, with a view to developing novel strategies for its control and help minimizing the risk of exposure. The research focusses on the characterization of ambient concentration of O3 in terms of diurnal, weekday/weekend, seasonal and spatial variations using O3 measurements from the four air quality sites for the period October 1997-Oct 2001. It demonstrated that a unique feature of Auckland''s air quality was the dilution of polluted city air due to the mixing of east coast air into the cleaner west coast circulation leading to overall lower average O3 concentrations in summer.