Collaboration with the Academy of Athens, Institut fuer Chemie and Dynamik der Geosphaere, Forschungszentrum Juelich, Germany and Laboratoire d’Aerologie, UMR 5560, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
The aim of this project is the study of the physical and chemical mechanisms leading to high summertime surface ozone levels in the Mediterranean basin and especially in its Eastern part, which is a major issue regarding the environmental as well as climate change impacts in the region. For this purpose, the vertical summer (June to August) ozone profiles collected during of the EU MOZAIC (Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapor by Airbus in Service Aircraft) Project (1994 – 2008) over the eastern Mediterranean airports of Cairo, Tel-Aviv, Heraklion, Rhodes and Antalya will be analysed together with the simultaneous vertical profiles of wind, temperature, relative humidity and carbon monoxide. The focus will be on the identification of the major factors determining the ozone variability in the lower troposphere and the boundary layer over this area, especially assessing the relative importance of meteorology and photochemistry on the highest and lowest observed ozone values.