Analysis of key data elements for the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) review

As a requirement of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must periodically reexamine the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. In an attempt to examine the impact of a new standard on various geographical areas in the United States, regional and urban photochemical modeling will be performed. This modeling will analyze various emission control strategies based on the 1990 CAAA, as well as additional controls specified in an attempt to bring ozone concentrations to the level of the proposed new standard. As a result of this modeling, numerous data sets will be developed including the emissions, model results, and ambient air quality data. EPA needs an efficient means of graphically visualizing/analyzing these data both spatially and temporally. This includes point specific emissions, ambient air quality, county-level emissions, coordinate information, land use, population, and gridded model results. The results of these efforts (modeling and analyses) will benefit EPA and State and local air pollution agencies in two ways: (1) Provide State agencies with an assessment of how effective various control measures are at reducing ozone levels, and (2) be used in the development and implementation of the new ambient standard. Thismore » paper describes the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) Analysis Application that can be used by EPA with data sets that will result from these analyses and that can be displayed visually via maps and charts.« less