Is there a correlation between wind speed and ozone concentration in

NC?

Erin Cooper

Purpose•Surface ozone is harmful at extreme levels•0.075 ppm ozone = 100 AQI•Ozone and weather both change

constantly and affect us

Air Quality Index

Air quality Conditions Colors

0 to 50 Good Green

51 to 100 Moderate Yellow

101 to 150 Partially unhealthy Orange

151 to 200 Unhealthy Red

201 to 300 Very unhealthy Purple

301 to 500 Hazardous Maroon

Polluted ozone can irritate and/or damage

lungs, reduce lung function, or aggravate

asthma or other chronic lung diseases

Hypothesis

• A region’s wind speed and ozone concentration will have a climatology correlation, but a very little correlation.

• If my hypothesis is correct, I can expect a negative correlation between wind speed and ozone concentration

Procedure

1. Chose DAQ stations near weather stations2. Pull DAQ data from selected stations3. Pull daily average wind speed data from

weather stations4. Organize data sets to correlate easier5. Make correlation and graph data

Data Collections

Southern Mountains

Northern Mountains

Northern Piedmont

Central Piedmont

Southern Piedmont

NorthernCoastal Plain

Central Coastal Plain

Southern Coastal Plain

Wind Speed Data

Station

Asheville Regional Airport, Buncombe

Boone-Watauga Hospital, Watauga

Greensboro Airport, Guilford

Siler City Airport, Chatham

Douglas International Airport, Mecklenburg

Highway Patrol Commercial Station, Martin

Cunningham Research Station, Lenoir

Horticultural Crops Res Station, New Hanover

Air Quality Data

Location

Bent Creek, Buncombe

Linville Falls, Avery

Mendenhall, Guilford

Pittsboro,Chatham

Arrowood, Mecklenburg

Jamesville, Martin

Lenoir Community College, Lenoir

Castle Hayne, New Hanover

The Southern Piedmont area had the most

correlation, supporting my hypothesis

The Northern Coastal Plain region had a

positive correlation, disproving my hypothesis

The Piedmont in general had the most correlation

I also noticed that regions with major

manufacturing cities had the highest

correlation

Conclusion•The piedmont region supported my hypothesis the

most, having the most negative correlation

•Most regions had VERY little correlation

•The Northern Coastal Plain region completely rejected my hypothesis by having a positive correlation

Future Work

More ways to figure out what affects Ozone concentration…

• Analyze data by a different time period• Incorporate wind direction to see if that

affects ozone concentrations