Opinion: Establishing a science-into-policy process for tropospheric ozone assessment

Derwent, Richard G.; Parrish, David D.; Faloona, Ian C.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13613-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13613-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13613-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 21

Opinion

|

02 Nov 2023

Opinion |

| 02 Nov 2023

Opinion: Establishing a science-into-policy process for tropospheric ozone assessment

Richard G. Derwent, David D. Parrish, and Ian C. Faloona

Data sets

Airkorea surface observation networks National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) https://www.airkorea.or.kr/web/last_amb_hour_data?pMENU_NO=123

Global Air Pollutant Emissions European Commission https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.php/dataset_ap61

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions European Commission https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset_ghg70

Global data set of biogenic VOC emissions calculated by the MEGAN model over the last 30 years (https://eccad.aeris-data.fr/) K. Sindelarova, C. Granier, I. Bouarar, A. Guenther, S. Tilmes, T. Stavrakou, J.-F. Müller, U. Kuhn, P. Stefani, and W. Knorr https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9317-2014

Zonal similarity of long-term changes and seasonal cycles of baseline ozone at northern mid-latitudes (https://join.fz-juelich.de) D. D. Parrish, R. G. Derwent, W. Steinbrecht, R. Stubi, R. Van Malderen, M. Steinbacher, T. Trickl, L. Ries, and X. Xu https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031908

Executive editor

Tropospheric ozone is an extremely important atmospheric compound as it oxidises, and thus removes, chemical compounds in the atmosphere. One important source in the troposphere are anthropogenic emissions. At elevated concentrations ozone presents a pollutant that is harmful to human health and ecosystems, and it acts as a short-lived greenhouse gas in the upper troposphere. Based on previously developed community models to describe the spatial and temporal variation of tropospheric ozone, this highly controversially discussed Opinion article proposes the establishment of a conceptual, simplified, but widely accepted tropospheric ozone model to facilitate communication between different communities concerned with different ozone impacts, and between ozone research and policy. This step could pave the way for a coordinated global action to improve air quality standards worldwide in an efficient and cost-effective manner.