Sunday and Workday Variations in Photochemical Air Pollutants in New Jersey and New York

Cleveland, William S.; Graedel, T. E.; Kleiner, Beat; Warner, Jack L.

doi:10.1126/science.186.4168.1037

Cited by 207 publications

(133 citation statements)

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“…AOD is the aerosol-related quantity best suited to characterise its radiative effect. At the urban scale, Cleveland et al (1974) found a consistent weekly cycle in surface solar irradiance. Gong et al (2006) found a weekly cycle in surface solar irradiance over China consistent with the expected aerosol direct effect in winter, but not in summer.…”

Section: Brief Summary Of Direct and Indirect Aerosol Effectsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Latterly, Haagen-Smit and Brunelle (1958) initiated the investigation of the WC of photochemical parameters, while the WC of photochemical pollutants, ozone, primary pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO x ), carbon monoxide (CO) and aerosols was studied in a significant number of papers from mid 70s (e.g. Cleveland et al, 1974;Elkus and Wilson, 1977), mainly for urban centres in the US. Thus, many studies, particularly in America and Europe, from the late 70s until today, suggested that ozone concentrations are generally higher during the weekend when the emissions of NO x and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are lower due to a decreased use of transport facilities in urban areas, while ozone may minimize in the weekends in rural areas or areas with high biogenic VOC emissions (see Heuss et al, 2003 for a review).…”

Section: Evidences Of Wcs In Pollution and Anthropogenic Aerosolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing large-scale weekly cycles in meteorological variables: a review

Sánchez-Lorenzo¹,

Laux

Franssen³

et al. 2012

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Several studies have claimed to have found significant weekly cycles of meteorological variables appearing over large domains, which can hardly be related to urban effects exclusively. Nevertheless, there is still an ongoing scientific debate whether these large-scale weekly cycles exist or not, and some other studies fail to reproduce them with statistical significance. In addition to the lack of the positive proof for the existence of these cycles, their possible physical explanations have been controversially discussed during the last years. In this work we review the main results about this topic published during the recent two decades, including a summary of the existence or non-existence of significant weekly weather cycles across different regions of the world, mainly over the US, Europe and Asia. In addition, some shortcomings of common statistical methods for analyzing weekly cycles are listed. Finally, a brief summary of supposed causes of the weekly cycles, focusing on the aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions and their impact on meteorological variables as a result of the weekly cycles of anthropogenic activities, and possible directions for future research, is presented.

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Section: Brief Summary Of Direct and Indirect Aerosol Effectsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Evidences Of Wcs In Pollution and Anthropogenic Aerosolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing large-scale weekly cycles in meteorological variables: a review

Sánchez-Lorenzo¹,

Laux

Franssen³

et al. 2012

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…A few studies, some of them controversial, have reported weekend effects in local meteorological parameters and even in urban temperatures (3)(4)(5)(6). On the other hand, weekend effects caused by vehicular traffic practices are well documented in studies of urban pollution and atmospheric chemistry (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, weekend effects caused by vehicular traffic practices are well documented in studies of urban pollution and atmospheric chemistry (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). In this article, we first focus on observations that demonstrate the magnitude, spatial extent, and statistical robustness of the weekend effect in DTR.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of a “weekend effect” in diurnal temperature range

Forster

Solomon

2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

128

116

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Using surface measurements of maximum and minimum temperatures from the Global Daily Climatological Network data set, we find evidence of a weekly cycle in diurnal temperature range (DTR) for many stations in the United States, Mexico, Japan, and China. The ''weekend effect,'' which we define as the average DTR for Saturday through Monday minus the average DTR for Wednesday through Friday, can be as large as 0.5 K, similar to the magnitude of observed long-term trends in DTR. This weekend effect has a distinct large-scale pattern that has changed only slightly over time, but its sign is not the same in all locations. The station procedures and the statistical robustness of both the individual station data and the patterns of DTR differences are thoroughly examined. We conclude that the weekend effect is a real short time scale and large spatial scale geophysical phenomenon, which is necessarily human in origin. We thus provide strong evidence of an anthropogenic link to DTR, an important climate indicator. Several possible anthropogenic mechanisms are discussed; we speculate that aerosol-cloud interactions are the most likely cause of this weekend effect, but we do not rule out others.T he global mean surface air temperature has risen by Ϸ0.6 Ϯ 0.2 K in the industrial era, and observations and model calculations suggest that human activities have played a significant role in this change in the Earth's climate (1). In addition to the global mean temperature, other observations are central to attempts to understand the nature and cause(s) of climate change, and thus to elucidate any links to human activities. One key indicator is the difference between the daytime maximum and nighttime minimum temperatures, referred to as the diurnal temperature range (DTR). Observations have shown that DTR has narrowed in many locations worldwide by up to 0.5 K per decade because nightly minimum temperatures have increased more than daytime values (2). Here we demonstrate a surprising aspect to this change: we show that the DTR reported from instruments in many regions is subject to a pronounced weekly cycle (hereafter referred to as a ''weekend effect'').Natural mechanisms can contribute to changes in many climate indices, complicating the attribution of long-term climate change to an anthropogenic cause (1). In contrast, as no geophysical quantity that is independent of human activities can maintain a phase-lock with the weekly cycle over long time scales, observation of a weekly cycle directly links to human practices. The weekend effect in DTR has the important strength of being a short-period relative measure, and hence insensitive to such issues as changes in instrument placement or slow changes in the environment such as urbanization or land use. However, the possibility that an apparent weekend effect could reflect poor or inconsistent measurement practices by operators from day to day will be considered, and we will show that this is highly unlikely to explain the observations.A few studies, some of them controversial, h...

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“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] These so-called "weekday/weekend differences in O 3 " were largely due to differences in emissions patterns and, therefore, may provide insight into the potential effects of control strategies. Vukovich 6 and Vukovich and Wayland 7 examined the weekday/weekend differences in O 3 in large urban regions in the "northeast corridor" of the eastern United States and in Texas for the summer of 1995.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weekday/Weekend Differences in OH Reactivity with VOCs and CO in Baltimore, Maryland

Vukovich

2000

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

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This study compared the first-order frequencies for OH associated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and CO (hereafter called OH reactivity with VOCs or CO), the product of the VOC or CO concentration, and their respective k OH value, on an average weekday with that on an average weekend day at a core urban site in Baltimore, MD. The average daytime concentrations were calculated for each of the 55 available Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Station (PAMS) VOCs using data from the Baltimore site. The data were sorted in descending order to highlight the important species based on concentration. The OH reactivity with VOCs was sorted in descending order to identify the important species based on the magnitude of the OH reactivity. A similar process was followed for the OH reactivity with CO. The contribution of the significant species to the weekday/weekend difference in OH reactivity was examined.The OH reactivity with C 5 H 8 was the largest among the OH reactivity with the PAMS' VOCs and was the same on the weekday and weekend. The weekday/weekend difference in OH reactivity with VOCs was entirely due to differences in concentrations of the anthropogenic VOCs. The OH reactivity with VOCs was 11% larger on the weekday. When OH reactivity with CO was included, the OH reactivity was 13% larger on the weekday. IMPLICATIONSThe findings of this study suggested that lowering anthropogenic VOCs by as much as 27% and CO by as much as 59% will have an insignificant effect on the reaction of the VOCs and CO with OH and probably on the O 3 production potential in Baltimore. This is because C 5 H 8 provides a large percentage of the reactions with OH and remains at sufficient concentrations, when combined with the remaining anthropogenic VOCs (to say nothing of existing CH 4 ) and CO, to maintain a reactivity base sufficient to sustain a high O 3 productivity potential. This suggests that in regions where high biogenic VOC concentrations are found and which are NO x -inhibited, NO x controls may be a more effective method of controlling O 3 . INTRODUCTIONIn certain cities, larger concentrations of O 3 have been found, on average, on a weekend day than on a weekday.1-8 These so-called "weekday/weekend differences in O 3 " were largely due to differences in emissions patterns and, therefore, may provide insight into the potential effects of control strategies. Vukovich 6 and Vukovich and Wayland 7 examined the weekday/weekend differences in O 3 in large urban regions in the "northeast corridor" of the eastern United States and in Texas for the summer of 1995. They found weekdays had, on average, 82% more ambient NO x and 42% more ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) between sunrise and sunset than weekend days had, but there was 14% more O 3 on the weekend days during that same period. These differences in O 3 precursors were mainly due to the large ambient concentrations of NO x and VOCs that existed on the weekday during the periods of rush-hour traffic in the cities. They proposed that a larger amount o...

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Sunday and Workday Variations in Photochemical Air Pollutants in New Jersey and New York

Cited by 207 publications

References 5 publications

Assessing large-scale weekly cycles in meteorological variables: a review

Assessing large-scale weekly cycles in meteorological variables: a review

Observations of a “weekend effect” in diurnal temperature range

Weekday/Weekend Differences in OH Reactivity with VOCs and CO in Baltimore, Maryland

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