Regional transport of pollutants over the Bay of Biscay: analysis of an ozone episode under a blocking anticyclone in west-central Europe

This paper analyses an ozone episode recorded at the regional monitoring network of the Basque Country, located in northern Iberia. The synoptic weather pattern was characterized by the presence of a blocking anticyclone over the British Isles and its subsequent evolution eastwards. The blocking situation lasted for 4 days, and ozone concentrations throughout the whole network rose up to 100–160 μg m−3. The main objective is to investigate the origin of the polluted air masses in the area and search for the transport/dispersion mechanisms that gave rise to such a severe O3 episode. A mesoscale model, operating with three nested grids down to a resolution of 3 km×3 km, was used to simulate the mesoscale processes. The model results were validated against the output of a wind profiler radar and the meteorological data recorded at the surface meteorological stations operated by the local and regional authorities. Both the single-particle Lagrangian back-trajectories and the results of a multiple-particle dispersion model suggest that during the peak pollution episode there were contributions from local sources as well as regional and long-range transport from foreign sources. The transport mechanisms depend on the position-evolution of the high-pressure system over Europe: during the last phase of the episode (15–16 June 1996), concurrent with the highest concentrations, we detected both a contribution of pollutants from southern France, which arrived at the Bay of Biscay with the north-easterly winds forced by the European anticyclone, as well as a contribution from night-time discharges of aged pollutants located in the residual layer over the Ebro valley. This layer accumulates pollutants from local sources located inside the Ebro valley (daytime convection and mixing during the previous day) and can also be a reservoir of pollutants transported from the western Mediterranean following the sea breeze regime.