RIFTOZ

Regional differences in tropospheric ozone in Europe

Co-ordinator : TNO-MEP

The RIFTOZ project is a research project focusing on the regional differences in tropospheric ozone. It is therefore not about the lack of ozone in the stratosphere (the famous gap in the ozone layer), but about the surplus of ozone at ground level (smog).Although unhealthy high ozone concentrations appear in all industrialized areas of western Europe, the reasons for their appearance may vary widely. Typical questions the RIFTOZ project now tries to answer are:

• Why are the ozone concentrations in regions of Spain and Italy acting quite different, although those regions are geographically quite similar ?



• How do ozone concentrations over sea areas behave?

To answer these questions, the project will, for the first time ever, create a ozone data set covering all parts of Europe. The objective of the RIFTOZ project is two-fold:

• To create a coherent hourly tropospheric ozone field, covering total Europe and the adjacent seas, for the summer of 1997. The ozone field is obtained using data-assimilation techniques, combining:


• available simulation models;
• available ozone measurements.



• To investigate by analyzing this ozone data field the different behavior and patterns over different areas in Europe. Special emphasis will be given to:


• the Mediterranean sea;
• the North Sea and Atlantic,

for which for the first time a coherent 3-D data set will be available.

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