Las Vegas Ozone Study (LVOS)

LVOS logo

Where: Angel Peak, Nevada

When: May - June 2013

The primary objectives of the Las Vegas Ozone Study (LVOS) are to, a) assess the influence of long-range transport from Asia and stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT) on surface ozone concentrations in Clark County, and b) estimate the relative contributions of these processes to high ozone events compared to local ozone production, regional transport from Southern California, and other sources such as wildfires. This information will help Clark County to potentially obtain waivers from regulatory considerations for Asian transport and stratospheric intrusion events in accordance with the recently promulgated rule on "Treatment of Data Influenced by Exceptional Events."

Angel Peak map
Angel Peak
Angel Peak, Las Vegas, Nevada

The study will be conducted over a six-week period from May 20 to June 30, 2013. NOAA and CIRES personnel will make the primary measurements from the Clark County facilities at Angel Peak on the eastern slope of Mt. Charleston using the truck-mounted NOAA ESRL CSD Tunable Optical Profiler for Aerosol and oZone (TOPAZ) lidar. The lidar measurements will be made on a near daily basis for periods of 4 to 8 hours (weather permitting) with longer operational periods during major transport events. NOAA will also install instrumentation for near continuous in situ measurements of surface ozone and carbon monoxide (CO) at the Angel Peak facilities during the study. The in situ measurements will help to distinguish air of stratospheric origin from that influenced by wildfires or anthropogenic sources including transport from East Asia or Southern California. The aerosol backscatter measurements will help to identify transport from wildfires. The Angel Peak measurements will be coordinated with observations from aircraft and other sources as the opportunity arises, including in situ ozone and other trace gas measurements made with the NASA Ames Alpha Jet and the Scientific Aviation Mooney aircraft, as well as ozone profiles obtained with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Table Mountain ozone lidar.

Las Vegas Ozone Study (LVOS) Fact Sheet

Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer: NOAA TOPAZ

Las Vegas Ozone Study (LVOS) Final Report

References

Langford, A. O., R. J. Alvarez II, J. Brioude, R. Fine, M. S Gustin, M. Y. Lin, R. D. Marchbanks, R. B. Pierce, S. P. Sandberg, C. J. Senff, A. M. Weickmann, and E. J. Williams, Entrainment of stratospheric air and Asian pollution by the convective boundary layer in the southwestern U.S, Journal of Geophysical Research, doi:10.1002/2016JD025987, 2017.

Langford, A. O., R. B. Pierce, and P. J. Schultz, Stratospheric intrusions, the Santa Ana winds, and wildland fires in Southern California, Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/2015gl064964, 2015.

Langford, A. O., C. J. Senff, R. J. Alvarez II, J. Brioude, O. R. Cooper, J. S. Holloway, M. Y. Lin, R. D. Marchbanks, R. B. Pierce, S. P. Sandberg, A. M. Weickmann, and E. J. Williams, An overview of the 2013 Las Vegas Ozone Study (LVOS): Impact of stratospheric intrusions and long-range transport on surface air quality, Atmospheric Environment, doi:10.1016/J.Atmosenv.2014.08.040, 2015.