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The 2003 North American electrical blackout: An accidental experiment in atmospheric chemistry
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
The August 2003 North American electrical blackout provided a unique opportunity to quantify directly the contribution of power plants to regional haze and O3. Airborne observations over central Pennsylvania on August 15, 2003, ∼24 h into the blackout, revealed large reductions in SO2 (>90%), O3 (∼50%), and light scattered by particles (∼70%) relative to measurements outside the blackout region and over the same location when power plants were operating normally. CO and light absorbing particles were unaffected. Low level O3 decreased by ∼38 ppbv and the visual range increased by >40 km. This clean air benefit was realized over much of the eastern U.S. Reported SO2 and NOx emissions from upwind power plants were down to 34 and 20% of normal, respectively. The improvement in air quality provides evidence that transported emissions from power plants hundreds of km upwind play a dominant role in regional haze and O3 production.
Received 19 February 2004; accepted 8 June 2004; published 15 July 2004.
Citation: (2004), The 2003 North American electrical blackout: An accidental experiment in atmospheric chemistry, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L13106, doi:10.1029/2004GL019771.
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