Evaluation of the effect of regional pollutants and residual ozone on ozone concentrations in the morning in the Inland of the Kanto region

Increasing ozone concentrations are observed over Japan from year to year. One cause of high ozone concentration in the Kanto region, which includes areas inland from large coastal cities such as metropolitan Tokyo, is the transportation of precursors by sea breezes. However, high ozone concentrations are also observed in the morning, before sea breezes approach inland areas. In this point, there would be a possibility of residual ozone existing above the nocturnal boundary layer affects the ozone concentration in the following morning. In this study, we utilized the Weather Research and Forecasting model and the Community Multiscale Air Quality model to evaluate the effect of regional precursors and residual ozone on ozone concentrations over the inland Kanto region. The results show that precursors emitted from non-metropolitan areas affected inland ozone concentrations more than did precursors from metropolitan areas. Moreover, calculated results indicate downward transportation of residual ozone, resulting in increased concentration. The residual ozone was also affected by precursors emitted from non-metropolitan areas.