status and prediction of ozone as an air pollutant in ahvaz city, iran

in the present study, air quality analyses for ozone (o3) were conducted in ahvaz, a city in the south of iran. the measurements were taken from 2009 through 2010 in two different locations to prepare average data in the city. relations between the air pollutant and some meteorological parameters were calculated statistically using the daily average data. the wind data (velocity, direction), relative humidity, temperature, sunshine hours, evaporation and rainfall were considered as independent variables. the relationships between concentration of pollutant and meteorological parameters were expressed by multiple linear and nonlinear regression equations for both annual and seasonal conditions using spss software. rmse test showed that among different prediction model, stepwise model is the best option. the average concentrations were calculated for every 24 hours, each month and each season. results showed that the highest concentration of ozone occurs generally in the afternoon, while the least concentration is found at the beginning of the morning. monthly concentrations of ozone showed the highest value in august, while the least value was found in october. the seasonal concentrations showed the highest amounts in summer.