Characteristics of urban ozone level in Hong kong

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Leung, D. Y. C. | Zhang, D. N.

Affiliations: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China | Research Institute of Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China

Abstract: The long term trend of ozone level in Hong Kong has been investigated. One of the characteristics of ozone level in Hong Kong is the existence of autumn maximum and summer minimum. Observations of the diurnal variation of ozone level have been made in different area categories. There are early morning peak and afternoon peak occurred in the diurnal variation, which are different from some metropolitans where only an afternoon peak is observed. A negative correlation coefficient was found between monthly ozone level with nitric oxide level. On the contrary, there is a positive correlation between ozone and nitrogen dioxide. The positive correlation coefficient between nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide shows that the total amount of nitric oxide emitted from a series of moving and fixed sources greatly exceeded the stoichiometric amount of ozone formed from chemical reactions of precursors and long distance transportation.

Keywords: ozone, urban, air pollution, Hong Kong, China

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-7, 2001