Evaluation of the NO-NO2-O3 photostationary state in roadside environments of Agadir city, (southwestern of Morocco)
Résumé
In this study, we measured the NOx and O3 concentrations in different roadsides places,
and one background site, in the city of Agadir, Southern Morocco, between January
2014 and June 2015. The observed concentrations were used to investigate whether the
assumption that the photostationary state was reached, implicitly used in the air quality
predictive models, was holding true. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this
assumption is tested in roadside environments. Only in the background site, far from the
direct traffic emissions, could the atmosphere considered in photostationary
equilibrium. For the traffic sites, the excess NO from the tailpipe emissions does not
have time to react or to be perfectly mixed with the background pollutants, leading to a
significant deviation from the photostationary equilibrium. We suggest that the
measured concentration ratio NO2/NO may be used as a criterion to evaluate the
photostationary state of the urban atmosphere, which could be taken into account both
for field measurements and for modeling purposes.