Team
 
Dr. Matthew Fraser, Dr. Gary Morris

Dr. Gary Morris 

This project established an ozone-monitoring program at Rice University with the goal of developing a better understanding of tropospheric ozone pollution.

The project acquired a station from which to launch balloons (ozonesondes) with payloads designed to acquire in situ profiles of ozone pollution.

Although ozone pollution is a significant problem in Houston, the Houston area has had no established program to monitor ozone concentrations at any altitude in the atmosphere above the surface. By measuring the vertical distribution of ozone as a function of time, we will be able to establish clearly the nature (local vs. transported) and extent and origins (industrial activity vs. mobile sources) of local ozone, thus providing an important step to finding solutions.

The establishment of regular profile measurements in Houston is an essential step to assessing issues of sustainability.

Downtown Houston

Project Update

Many publications have followed the original project research. In addition, further grants were obtained to continue research on the subject. Further publications based on  the project data are forthcoming.

Balloon Launch

For more information:

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Eozone

Cooper, O.R, M. Trainer, A.M. Thompson, S.J. Oltmans, D.W. Tarasick, J.C. Witte, A. Stohl, S. Eckhardt, J. Lelieveld, M.J. Newchurch, B.J. Johnson, R. W. Portmann, L. Kalnajs, M.K. Dubey, T. Leblanc, I.S. McDermid, G. Forbes, D. Wolfe, T. Carey-Smith, G.A. Morris, B. Lefer, B. Rappenglück, E. Joseph, F. Schmidlin, J. Meagher, F.C. Fehsenfeld, T.J. Keating, R.A. VanCuren, and K. Minschwaner, Evidence for a recurring eastern North America upper tropospheric ozone maximum during summer, J. Geophys. Res., in press, 2007.

Tarasick, D.W., M.D. Moran, A. Thompson, T. Carey-Smith, Y. Rochon, V.S. Bouchet, W. Gong, P.A. Makar, C. Stroud, S. Ménard, L.-P. Crevier, S. Cousineau, J.A. Pudykiewicz, A. Kallaur, R. Moffet, R. Ménard, A. Robichaud, O.R. Cooper, S.J. Oltmans, J.C. Witte, G. Forbes, B.J. Johnson, J. Merrill, G. Morris, M.J. Newchurch, F.J. Schmidlin, and E. Joseph, Comparison of Canadian air quality forecast models with tropospheric ozone profile measurements above mid-latitude North America during IONS/ICARTT campaign:  Evidence for stratospheric input, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12S22, doi:10.1029/2006JD007782, 2007.

Thompson, A.M., J.B. Stone, J.C. Witte, R.B. Pierce, R.B. Chatfield, S.J. Oltmans, O.R. Cooper, B.F. Taubman, B.J. Johnson, E. Joseph, T.L. Kucsera, J.T. Merrill, G.A. Morris, S. Hersey, M.J. Newchurch, F.J. Schmidlin, D.W. Tarasick, V. Thouret, J.-P. Cammas, Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) 2004: 1 Summertime upper troposphere/lower stratosphere ozone over northeastern North America, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12S12, doi:10.1029/2006JD007441, 2007.

Thompson, A.M., J.B. Stone, J.C. Witte, R.B. Pierce, R.B. Chatfield, S.J. Oltmans, O.R. Cooper, B.F. Taubman, B.J. Johnson, E. Joseph, T.L. Kucsera, J.T. Merrill, G.A. Morris, S. Hersey, M.J. Newchurch, F.J. Schmidlin, D.W. Tarasick, V. Thouret, J.-P. Cammas, Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) 2004: 2. Tropospheric ozone budgets and variability over northeastern North America, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12S13, doi:10.1029/2006JD007670, 2007.

Morris, G.A., S. Hersey, A.M. Thompson, S. Pawson, J. Eric Nielsen, P.R. Colarco, W.W. McMillan, A. Stohl, S. Turquety, J. Warner, B.J. Johnson, T.L. Kucsera, D.E. Larko, S.J. Oltmans, and J.C. Witte, Alaskan and Canadian forest fires exacerbate ozone pollution over Houston, Texas, on 19 and 20 July 2004, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D24S03, doi:10.1029/2006JD007090, 2006.

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