TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF OZONE POLLUTION IN WEST-VIRGINIA - IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGH-ELEVATION HARDWOOD FORESTS

Hourly ozone (O-3) data from one rural and four urban sites throughout West Virginia were analyzed for a three-year period (1987-1989) focus ing on seasonal and diurnal patterns of O-3 concentrations. Based on m aximum hourly O-3 concentrations (highest 1-hr maximum value per month ), there were definite seasonal patterns with highest values from May to August and lowest values from December to February for all years an d sites. High O, exposures (defined in this study as concentrations gr eater than or equal to 0.080 ppm) for the study period were greater in Greenbrier County (a distinctly rural region) and Wood County (an ind ustrialized area). Of these two sites, O-3 concentrations remained hig h with little diurnal variation in June and July (1988) in the rural a rea; in contrast, there was large diurnal fluctuation in the urban are a. Considering the high O-3 concentrations found at our rural site, th e seasonal coincidence of high O-3 with the growing season, and a low diurnal fluctuation of high summer O-3 concentrations at the rural hig h-elevation site, tropospheric O-3 pollution could represent a distinc t threat to the high-elevation hardwood forests of West Virginia. Ozon e concentrations presented in this study are well within the range of values which were found by studies in the literature to be damaging to physiological processes and growth parameters in trees.