Application of satellite observations and adjoint inverse modeling to intercontinental transport of ozone pollution

The thesis investigates intercontinental transport of tropospheric ozone pollution and its implication on surface air quality, using satellite observations from TES and OMI and in situ measurements from the INTEX-B aircraft campaign. The observations are interpreted with the GEOS-Chem 3-D global chemical transport model (CTM) and its adjoint. Collocated nadir measurements of tropospheric ozone (O 3 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) from TES show significant O 3 -CO correlations downwind of polluted continents, providing a valuable test of the model to simulate intercontinental transport of ozone. OMI NO 2 observations indicate a factor of 2 increase of Asian anthropogenic NO x emissions from 2000 to 2006. Satellite observations of CO from AIRS and TES indicate two major events of Asian transpacific pollution during INTEX-B (April-May 2006). Correlation between TES CO and ozone observations provides evidence for transpacific ozone pollution. Transpacific pollution plumes tend to split over the Northeast Pacific; the northern branch circulates around the Aleutian Low and has little impact on North America, while the southern branch circulates around the Pacific High and impacts western Nort