First Maps of Tropospheric Ozone & Carbon Monoxide

Coincident measurements of tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide are critical for understanding chemical and dynamical processes, which can be very complex in the troposphere.

Note the tropical high ozone coincident with CO which is associated with biomass burning. These circles on these maps illustrate the complexity using coincident measurements for three seasons - northern hemisphere summer (JJA, top), fall (SON, middle) and winter (DJF, bottom).

• During SON and DJF, areas of high tropospheric ozone are colocated with areas of high CO.
• During JJA, in the tropics tropospheric ozone is high and colocated with high CO, but in the northern hemisphere, tropospheric ozone is high but is not colocated with high CO.

6.28.06