Ozone Pollution in North America, Europe and the Middle East: The Role of Local NOx Emissions and Global Methane

Waldapfel, Hannah, H (2023) Ozone Pollution in North America, Europe and the Middle East: The Role of Local NOx Emissions and Global Methane. Bachelor thesis, Global Responsibility & Leadership (GRL).

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Abstract

Tropospheric ozone is one of the most potent greenhouse gases which also adversely affects human and environmental health. However, the number of policies and international conventions that effectively address reducing ozone in the troposphere is still limited, partially because the formation of tropospheric ozone is complex. It involves different precursor emissions, including NOx, nmVOCs and methane, and therefore it is not always directly formed where the precursors were emitted. This research therefore aimed at extending the knowledge on the contribution of different precursors to ozone in the troposphere. Three research regions were selected: North America, Europe and the Middle East. Utilising data from the HTAP 2010 dataset, local and remote NOx emissions for the regions were analysed, as well as the precursors they react with to form ozone, namely nmVOCs and methane. The results show that in 2010 the Middle East had the highest ozone levels, resulting from local and remote NOx emissions and methane. Europe showed a stark seasonal cycle produced by changes in local NOx emissions throughout the year, while North America showed high remote NOx contributions during the spring months. Based on the results, three policy recommendations are proposed, which entail reducing NOx emissions locally, methane emissions globally, and international shipping emissions. It shows that efforts to mitigate tropospheric ozone do not mainly depend on regional efforts but that international cooperation is necessary to tackle ozone formation in the troposphere collectively and to reduce its impacts on global warming and human and environmental health.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor)
Name supervisor:	Garzon Lopez, C.X.
Date Deposited:	12 Sep 2023 09:43
Last Modified:	12 Sep 2023 09:43
URI:	https://campus-fryslan.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/262

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