Modelling approach for photochemical pollution studies

The comprehension of the relationships between primary pollutants emissions and secondary pollutants concentration and deposition is necessary to design policies and strategies for the maintenance of a healthy environment. The use of mathematical models is a powerful tool to assess the effect of the emissions and of physical and chemical transformations of pollutants on air quality. A photochemical model, Calgrid, developed by CARB (California Air Resources Board), has been used to test the effect of different meteorological and air quality, scenarios on the ozone concentration levels. This way we can evaluate the influence of these conditions to determine the most important chemical species and reactions in atmosphere. The ozone levels are strongly related to the reactive hydrocarbons concentrations and to the solar radiation flux