Comparisons of weekday–weekend ozone: importance of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions in the semi-arid southwest USA

This paper examines differences between daily maximum weekday and weekend ambient ozone concentrations in the Tucson, AZ metropolitan area. Temporal variations in the Weekend Effect (i.e. weekend ozone concentrations are larger than weekday concentrations) are not explained entirely by changes in anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursor chemicals (i.e. nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds). A dramatic change from the Weekend Effect in June to the Weekday Effect (i.e. weekday ozone concentrations are larger than weekend concentrations) in July is associated with the onset of the North American Monsoon. A transition from a relatively dry atmosphere during the arid foresummer months of May and June to a relatively moist atmosphere during the monsoon months of July and August seems to explain the changes in ozone concentrations. Moist conditions are associated with increases in biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions in the urban forest and surrounding desert areas. BVOC emissions appear to be an important source of VOCs, especially during the monsoon months. Therefore, an increase in ambient BVOC concentrations from June to July presumably reverses the sensitivity of ozone production in the Tucson area from VOC- to NOx-sensitive.