A Preliminary Investigation of Ozone Concentrations on the Lizard Peninsula Cornwall, U.K. using Continuous Monitoring and Diffusion Tubes

Abstract

The Lizard Peninsula is an isolated area of unique and sensitive ecology and the occurrence of damaging ozone concentrations over the peninsula in spring challenges the successful sustainable management of the area. Ozone concentrations over Goonhilly Downs on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall were measured in spring 2002 using continuous monitoring and spatial mapping (diffusion tubes). Data obtained using a continuous ozone monitor (1/03/02 to 31/03/02) showed that the AOT40 5-day values were in a range from 2 to 800 μg m^-3 hr (AOT40 is the sum of the differences between the measured hourly ozone concentration (μg m^-3) and 80 μg m^-3 (when the concentration exceeds 80 μg m^-3) for the hours when global radiation exceeds 50 Wm^-2). Contour mapping of ozone concentrations measured with diffusion tubes suggested that over a 2 km² sampling area significant microscale variations were occurring with ozone concentrations ranging between 48–129 μg m^-3 for one two-week period and 62–210 μg m^-3 for the other.Unusually high diurnal variations in ozone concentrations were also observed at Goonhilly. It is thought that temperature inversions caused the entrapment of ozone at the surface level.