Investigating Gradients in Ozone and Temperature with Respect to Lake Breeze Onsets During the 2017 Lake Michigan Ozone Study

Abstract

The 2017 Lake Michigan Ozone Study (LMOS) was a collaborative, multi-agency field campaign that ran May 22, 2017, through June 22, 2017, in eastern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois. The UW-Eau Claire mobile platform operated in between Sheboygan, WI, and Grafton WI. We drove an automobile and measured ozone via Personal Ozone Monitor, temperature, and relative humidity via Kestral sensor to investigate ozone gradients between ground monitoring stations at coastal and inland locations north of Milwaukee. The mobile platform deployed on targeted event days to coincide with other LMOS measurements on June 2, 3, 12, 13 and 17th. On June 2nd, a large lake breeze extended in land and ozone observations varied little across the study’s sites; however, on June 3rd there was a shallow lake breeze that formed and large temperature and ozone gradients were observed. The mobile data will be used to discern local ozone gradients in comparison to ground-based WI-DNR and Illinois EPA sites. Investigations using ozone, wind speed and direction, and temperature data collected from WI-DNR and Illinois EPA ground stations will construct an understanding into the onset of lake breezes at different sites will also be presented.