Transformational characteristics of ground-level ozone during high particulate events in urban area of Malaysia

• Published in: Air quality, atmosphere and health atmosphere and health, 2018-07, Vol.11 (6), p.715-727
• Main Authors: Awang, Norrimi Rosaida, Ramli, Nor Azam, Shith, Syabiha, Zainordin, Nazatul Syadia, Manogaran, Hemamalini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Correlation; Diurnal variations; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Health; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humidity; Nitric oxide; Nitrogen dioxide; Ozone; Parameters; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Relative humidity; Temperature effects; Urban areas; Wind speed
• ISSN: 1873-9318; 1873-9326
• DOI: 10.1007/s11869-018-0578-0

Observations of ground-level ozone (O 3 ), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), particulate matter (PM 10 ) and meteorological parameter (temperature, relative humidity and wind speed) fluctuations during high particulate event (HPE) and non-HPE in Malaysia have been conducted for 2 years (2013 and 2014). The study focuses on urban areas, namely, Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya and Bandaraya Melaka. The diurnal variations of ground-level O 3 concentration were higher during HPE than those during non-HPE in all urban areas. The concentration of O 3 fluctuated more in 2014 than 2013 due to the higher incidences of HPE. Temperature and wind speed fluctuated with higher PM 10 , NO 2 and NO concentrations during HPE than those during non-HPE in all urban sites. Relative humidity was lower during HPE than that during non-HPE. Positive correlations were found between PM 10 and ozone during HPE for Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya with 0.81 and 0.79, respectively. Meanwhile, negative correlation (− 0.76) was recorded for Bandaraya Melaka. The non-HPE correlation of PM 10 and O 3 showed negative values for all locations except Petaling Jaya (0.02). Temperature and wind speed shows a strong positive correlation with ozone for all locations during HPE and non-HPE with the highest at Shah Alam (0.97). Inverse relationships were found between relative humidity and O 3 , in which the highest was for Shah Alam (− 0.96) in 2013 and Shah Alam (− 0.97) and Bandaraya Melaka (− 0.97) in 2014. The result of the ozone best-fit equation obtained an R 2 of 0.6730. The study parameters had a significant positive relationship with the ozone predictions during HPE.