Surface ozone at four remote island sites and the preliminary assessment of the exceedances of its critical level in Japan

Analysis of the recent surface ozone data at four remote islands (Rishiri, Oki, Okinawa, and Ogasawara) in Japan indicates that East Asian anthropogenic emissions significantly influence the boundary layer ozone in Japan. Due to these regional-scale emissions, an increase of ozone concentration is observed during fall, winter, and spring when anthropogenically enhanced continental air masses from Siberia/Eurasia arrive at the sites. The O3 concentrations in the “regionally polluted” continental outflow among sites are as high as 41–46 ppb in winter and 54–61 ppb in spring. Meanwhile, marine air masses from the Pacific Ocean show as low as 13–14 ppb of O3 at Okinawa and Ogasawara in summer but higher O3 concentrations, 24–27 ppb, are observed at Oki and Rishiri due to the additional pollution mainly from Japan mainland. The preliminary analysis of the exceedances of ozone critical level using AOT40 and SUM06 exposure indices indicates that the O3 threshold were exceeded variously among sites and years. The highest AOT40 and SUM06 were observed at Oki in central Japan where the critical levels are distinctly exceeded. In the other years, the O3 exposures at Oki, Okinawa, and Rishiri are about or slightly higher than the critical levels. The potential risk of crop yields reduction from high level of O3 exposure in Japan might not be a serious issue during 1990s and at present because the traditional growing season in Japan are during the low O3 period in summer. However, increases of anthropogenic emission in East Asia could aggravate the situation in the very near future.