Description:

This right hand side of the movie presents contour plots of the "morphed" AIRS ozone concentrations over the Eastern US from 6/8 - 6/11/91. The contoured plots of the AIRS ozone data were created by performing a linear interpolation (i.e. morphing) between the 2:00 PM ozone data. The left hand side contains forward trajectories released from Ohio on 6/9/91 14. The red squares mark the end of the trajectory at each time step.

Purpose:

To illustrate the regional scale transport of ozone data and its precursor species.

Method:

The forward trajectories were calculated using the CAPITA Monte Carlo model, and 3-D Eulerian wind fields generated from the National Meteorological Centers Nested Grid Model. One particle was released from nineteen sources distributed over Ohio, and tracked for two days. The morphed plots of the AIRS ozone data were created by first spatially interpolating the 2:00 PM ozone data, i.e. contouring, then performing a linear interpolation, i.e. morphing, between the 2:00 PM ozone contours.

Interpretation:

On the afternoon of June 9, 1991 there was a high ozone airmass over Ohio. Over the coarse of the next two days, the high ozone airmass and ozone precursor species were transported East over Pennsylvania and New York and off the East coast . During the airmass's transport local emissions were added to it contributing to the ozone concentrations in this region. This is clearly seen in the metropolitan area stretching from Washington DC to New York city which had high ozone concentrations prior to the airmass's arrival.