Evaluation of innovative air-monitoring technologies for the measurement of ambient concentrations of ozone and its precursors at the 1996 Summer Olympics

An open path Fourier transform IR spectrometer and an ultra- violet differential optical absorption spectrometer were used during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics games to monitor for ambient ozone and its precursors near the Olympic Village. Both systems were operated continuously before, during, and after the increase in Atlanta's population associated with the Summer games. The study utilized the massive changes in population patterns to observe and measure changes in local air quality due to an increased local population. A second goal of the program was to evaluate both open path instruments in continuous field use over a period of several weeks. The evaluation included the following criteria: instrumentation operability, system precision and accuracy, detection capability, and over-all ease of use. Both open path systems selected and measured ambient levels of ozone. A limited number of ozone precursors were detected. The study was sponsored by the Georgia Institute of Technology's Air Quality Laboratory, the US Department of Energy, and the US Environmental Protection Agency.