Abstract

Efforts to evaluate the success of the U.S. air pollution regulatory program, begun in the 1970’s, has been limited since systematic measurements of most pollutants such as ozone, SOx, and NOx are minimal prior to 1970 with none prior to 1955. Inevitable questions that arise, as one inspects and tries to interpret the temporal fluctuations of various pollutants since 1970, is whether the fluctuations are due to weather (climatic) shifts in the 70's, and whether the values differ from those that occurred during the prior 70 years when the nation became heavily industrialized, changed fossil fuels, and when gasoline-burning vehicles came into use.

© 1986 Optical Society of America