Photochemical ozone formation at Portugal West Coast under sea breeze conditions as assessed by master chemical mechanism model

Results on photochemical pollutants monitoring obtained in the field campaign CZCM-2001 were used as a database in photochemical trajectory model using the explicit mechanism Master Chemical Mechanism version 3 (MCM v3) aiming to simulate the formation of photochemical pollutants in air masses during the sea breeze circulation at Portugal West Coast. The modelling results were in good agreement with experimental data. The sensitivity analysis of MCM v3 revealed that under experimental sea breeze conditions, the initial concentrations of air pollutants such as NOx and VOCs at the coast are crucial factors influencing the level of ozone production in inland rural areas.