Additions of Tropospheric Ozone (O3) in Regional Climates (A case study: Saudi Arabia)

Syed Shehzad Hassan; Maham Mukhtar; Ehsan ul Haq; Muneeb Aamir; Hafiz M Rafique; Ali Kamran; Ghulam Shah; Safeer Ali; Syed Amer Mahmood

Authors

Syed Shehzad Hassan Departmentof Physics, University of the Punjab Lahore.
Maham Mukhtar Institute of Management Science (Pak AIMS) Lahore
Ehsan ul Haq Remote Sensing group Department of Space Science University of the Punjab Lahore Punjab Pakistan.
Muneeb Aamir Remote Sensing group Department of Space Science University of the Punjab Lahore Punjab Pakistan.
Hafiz M Rafique Department of Physics, University of the Punjab Lahore
Ali Kamran Department of Physics, University of the Punjab Lahore.
Ghulam Shah Remote Sensing group Department of Space Science University of the Punjab Lahore Punjab Pakistan
Safeer Ali Remote Sensing group Department of Space Science University of the Punjab Lahore Punjab Pakistan.
Syed Amer Mahmood Remote Sensing group Department of Space Science University of the Punjab Lahore Punjab Pakistan

Keywords:

AIRS, AERONET, Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulfur dioxide, Aerosol optical depth and Dopson Unit.

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities are responsible for enhancing the concentration of various toxic gases that produces bad Ozone in the troposphere which is harmful to human health. The specific objective of this research was to analyze the spatiotemporal variations in a vertical column of Ozone (O3) over Saudi Arabia during 2006-2016 using Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) onboard AQUA platform and AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data. The results show that the optical depth of Ozone column varied from 252 Dobson Units (DU) to 264 DU. The main reason of this variation corresponds to the increase in O3 precursors including Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). The concentration of CO2 varied between (379-401) Parts Per Million (PPM), SO2 varied (3.5x10-6 - 4x10-6kg m-2) kg m-2 and NO2 varies (2.25x1015 - 2.5x1015)1/cm2 during the investigated timeframe. The results confirm that NO2 and SO2 have contributed directly in O3 formation while CO2 just increased regional temperatures that enhanced the optical depth of O3.

Full Text