Understanding wintertime ozone pollution events in regions of intense oil and gas development.


Date: 12:35:00 - Nov 29 2017
Speakers: Dr Peter Edwards

The United States has recently experienced the most rapid expansion in oil and gas production in four decades, owing in large part to implementation of new extraction technologies such as horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing. The environmental impacts of this development, from its effect on water quality to the influence of increased methane leakage on climate, have been a matter of intense debate. Air quality impacts are associated with emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, whose photochemistry leads to production of ozone, a secondary pollutant with negative health effects. Recent observations in oil- and gas-producing basins in the western U.S. have identified ozone mixing ratios well in excess of present air quality standards, and including the highest levels yet recorded in the U.S., but only during winter. Understanding winter ozone production in these regions is scientifically challenging, however, and goes against conventional understanding of ozone as a summertime urban pollutant. 

In order to identify the best way to tackle this breach of U.S. environmental regulation, a local industry body partnered with a team of atmospheric scientists to get to the bottom of this unusual phenomenon. Over the course of 3 winters between 2012 and 2014 we made detailed chemical measurements in the Uintah basin, Utah. These measurements resulted in new understanding of the chemistry leading to these pollution events, and enabled a quantitative analysis of the best emissions reduction strategies to tackle the problem.

Free to watch

Sessions are free to watch. Please login to view this session or create an account.



Speakers


Dr Peter Edwards
Dr Peter Edwards (University of York)


Events

ReGen

Jul 23 2025 Sydney, Australia

World Water Week

Aug 24 2025 Stockholm, Sweden and online

ENTECH 2025

Aug 27 2025 Busan, South Korea

Aquatech Mexico

Sep 02 2025 Mexico City, Mexico

The Green Expo 2025

Sep 02 2025 Mexico City, Mexico

View all events