Assessing aromatic compound impacts on photochemical ozone generation utilizing an updated Perth airshed model

Atmospheric processing of aromatic compounds, which are known pollutants in urban air occurring predominantly from road transport sources, are a major contributor to photochemical oxidant formation as evidenced by the formation of ozone. It is believed that urban atmospheres contain a mixture of in excess of 100 speciated aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOC). Recent studies in understanding the degradation mechanisms of aromatic species have resulted in a significant update of the chemical mechanisms for the atmospheric degradation of aromatic compounds. The elucidation of new detailed and more accurate chemical mechanisms has targeted specifically the aromatic group of volatile organic compounds (VOC). These updates have been incorporated in the MCM methodology and made available on the MCM website (MCMv3.1 October 2003). In this work a highly detailed airshed model appropriate to Western Australia has been further developed and updated to not only encompass the aromatic mechanism developments of the MCM, but also the most recent emission inventory data for the region.