Appendix C
NARSTO Scientific Questions and Policy Questions1
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How can we determine the current trends in ozone concentrations and exposures on local and regional scales in North America?
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How can we better understand, further identify, isolate, and explain the fundamental physical, chemical, and meteorological processes responsible for ozone accumulation on local and regional scales in North America?
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How can we incorporate and use the evolving scientific understanding of relevant processes in diagnostic and prognostic tools (methods and models) for explaining observed phenomena and estimating impacts of future perturbations of independent variables, such as emissions and meteorology?
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How do we evaluate and periodically assess the relative contributions of VOC's and NOx, and their controls, to ozone accumulation on local and regional scales in North America?
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What technologies and approaches are most cost-effective in achieving and maintaining ozone-precursor reductions and in reducing ozone concentrations and exposures?
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For a given area, how do we determine whether an ozone problem exists, and how can we determine its severity?
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For an area considered to have an ozone problem, what portion of the problem is essentially irreducible (based on such factors as natural emissions of ozone precursors and stratospheric influx of ozone) and what portion of the ozone problem is potentially controllable (based on anthropogenic precursor emissions to the troposphere)?
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1 |
The questions are presented in Inset 1-1 (Part 1: Introduction and Overview) of the March, 1997 NARSTO Strategic Executive Plan. |
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Do we have evidence that existing control measures are having an impact?
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What are optimal approaches for reducing current and future high ozone concentrations for a given area considered having an ozone problem?
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What is the magnitude and impact of transnational-boundary transport of ozone and its precursors?
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How can the relevant science and scientific uncertainties be communicated meaningfully to the air-quality management and policy communities? How can tropospheric ozone science be translated into actionable knowledge (changes in activity patterns) by the public?
