Day of the week variations of photochemical pollutants in the St. Louis area

As part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Regional Air Pollution Study (RAPS) a network of 25 stations continuously recorded aeromatic data in the Greater St. Louis area. Various photochemical pollutants (O₃, NO, NO₂ and total hydrocarbons) and some selected meteorological variables (wind speed, temperature, and solar radiation) were analyzed with respect to the day of the week using 11 months of data collected during the warm months of the year — periods during which high ozone concentrations were common in St. Louis. The results reveal that the sign (±) of the workday to Sunday differences in the concentration of ozone depends to a large extent on the distance of the measurement from the major emission area of the metropolitan area of St. Louis. The data suggest that this is due to the impact of nitric oxide on the ambient ozone concentrations. This appears to offer at least a partial explanation for some of the contrasting results reported by various investigators regarding the differences in ozone concentrations between weekends and weekdays.