THE USE OF SURVEY DATA TO INVESTIGATE OZONE SENSITIVITY TO POINT SOURCES

During the Southern Oxidants Study's 1992 Atlanta Intensive, a survey was conducted to improve the emission estimates from point sources for the Atlanta metropolitan region. The survey consisted of a questionna ire and a daily activity log for the largest point sources in the regi on. The point source information was used to compare a 1992 typical su mmer day's emissions with a specific day's emissions (10 August 1992). Both emission inventories indicate that about 90% of point source nit rogen oxides (NOx) emissions were from power plants. Furthermore, our results show that the daily variation of point source NOx emissions du ring the Intensive Study was mostly due to the emissions from the powe r plants. The daily variation of NOx emissions with respect to a typic al summer day was as much as 24%. Although the day-to-day variability in point source VOC emissions was as much as 28%, their contribution t o the total VOC was not significant. Finally, we evaluate the impact o f NOx emissions from power plants on ozone concentrations. Air quality model simulations show significantly different ozone concentrations d epending on power plant location. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd