Overview of the Lake Michigan Ozone Study 2017

Abstract

The Lake Michigan Ozone Study 2017 (LMOS 2017) was a collaborative multi-agency field study targeting ozone chemistry, meteorology, and air quality observations in the southern Lake Michigan area. The primary objective of LMOS 2017 was to provide measurements to improve air quality modeling of the complex meteorological and chemical environment in the region. LMOS 2017 science questions included spatiotemporal assessment of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) emission sources and their influence on ozone episodes, the role of lake breezes, contribution of new remote sensing tools such as GeoTASO, Pandora, and TEMPO to air quality management, and evaluation of photochemical grid models. The observing strategy included GeoTASO on board the NASA UC-12 capturing NO2 and formaldehyde columns, an in situ profiling aircraft, two ground-based coastal enhanced monitoring locations, continuous NO2 columns from coastal Pandora instruments, and an instrumented research vessel. Local photochemical ozone production was observed on 2 June, 9–12 June, and 14–16 June, providing insights on the processes relevant to state and federal air quality management. The LMOS 2017 aircraft mapped significant spatial and temporal variation of NO2 emissions as well as polluted layers with rapid ozone formation occurring in a shallow layer near the Lake Michigan surface. Meteorological characteristics of the lake breeze were observed in detail and measurements of ozone, NOx, nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide, VOC, oxygenated VOC (OVOC), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) composition were conducted. This article summarizes the study design, directs readers to the campaign data repository, and presents a summary of findings.

Observations of the Lower Atmosphere From the 2021 WiscoDISCO Campaign

“…The low altitude features in ozone gradients over Lake Michigan have been observed in the recent 2017 Lake Michigan Ozone Study field campaign (Stanier et al, 2021;Doak et al, 2021). Stanier, et al (2021) describe observations for the highest measured ozone during the field campaign existing over water, offshore from Milwaukee and in the altitude range of 30-100 m above lake level. The shallow marine layer disruption when crossing a shoreline boundary during a lake breeze is a unique environment to study the changes in vertical mixing and pollutant extent.…”

“…This location was chosen due to its suitability for UAS flight operations and the regular influence of lake breeze circulations at the site. As a result of these lake breezes, the WiDNR's Chiwaukee Prairie Monitor regularly observes some of the highest ozone concentrations in the state (Stanier et al, 2021). Land use in the region is mixed suburban housing and farming, with two marinas directly south of the research site.…”

“…The WiscoDISCO-21 (Wisconsin's Dynamic Influence on Shoreline Circulations on Ozone) was designed to capture lake breeze influence on shoreline ozone observations and to interrogate the lowaltitude dimensionality of the marine layer as it moves on shore. The influence of lake breeze on shoreline air quality along Lake Michigan (Keen and Lyons, 1978;Lyons and Cole, 1976;Lyons and Olsson, 1973;Dye et al, 1995;Foley et al, 2011;Stanier et al, 2021) and other Great Lakes (Hayden et al, 2011;Levy et al, 2010;Wentworth et al, 2015;Sills et al, 2011) is well documented by campaigns incorporating ground (Lyons and Cole, 1976), ferry (Lennartson and Schwartz, 2002;Cleary et al, 2015) and aircraft observations (Dye et al, 1995;Foley et al, 2011;Hayden et al, 2011;Stanier et al, 2021). The shoreline communities of Lake Michigan have historically been in non-attainment of federal ozone standards.…”

“…Precursors to ozone production have emission sources along the Chicago urban corridor and ozone production can be enhanced when those emissions are trapped in the marine layer over the lake and get transported northward from Chicago (Vermeuel et al, 2019;Dye et al, 1995;Foley et al, 2011). The low altitude features in ozone gradients over Lake Michigan have been observed in the recent 2017 Lake Michigan Ozone Study field campaign (Stanier et al, 2021;Doak et al, 2021). Stanier, et al (2021) describe observations for the highest measured ozone during the field campaign existing over water, offshore from Milwaukee and in the altitude range of 30-100 m above lake level.…”

Size Resolved Aerosol Characterization and In-field Comparative Evaluation of TSI 1 nm SMPS at Lake Michigan Coastal Station

“…The Lake Michigan Ozone Study 2017 (LMOS 2017) was a multi-site collaborative field campaign developed to gather high spatio-temporal resolution data in support of ongoing efforts for improvement of regional air quality [7]. The campaign provided extensive observational datasets regarding ozone, its precursors, particulate matter, and meteorology associated with ozone events through a combination of airborne, ship, mobile lab, and fixed ground-based sites.…”