1997 New England Ambient Air Quality Summary
Overall air quality in New England in 1997 was similar to 1996, with the exception of ozone. The summer of 1997 was drier and hotter than the cool, wet summer of 1996 and thus observed ozone concentrations were much higher in 1997. Continued reductions in ozone precursor emissions throughout 1997 were major factors in mitigating the higher observed concentrations of ozone. In 1995, twenty ozone monitoring stations recorded one or more days over the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. in 1996, only seven monitoring stations recorded one or more days over the standard. Twenty-five monitoring stations reported one or more days over the standard in 1997. Ambient concentrations for the other criteria pollutants continued to stay below the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), with no site in New England reporting data for any other criteria air pollutant above the NAAQS. Eight-hour average ozone concentrations are discussed in a separate section on the new ozone and PM10 NAAQS.
PREV
UP
NEXT
Steven McDougall /
swmcd@theworld.com /
1998 September 27