[abstract]
Ozone is a greenhouse gas and a photochemical pollutant. In the troposphere O3 is transported from the stratosphere and it is also photochemically formed by reactions of its precursors which are the nitrogen oxides (NOx), the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the carbon monoxide (CO). Emissions of O3 precursors from human activities have modified its budget leading to a net increase in background O3. Elevated levels of O3 at ground level are of particular concern, since it is known to have adverse effects on human health, vegetation and materials. Regional photochemical air pollution studies in the Balkan region are an important environmental issue since it is an area characterized by high background O3 concentration values as a result of the high levels of solar radiation in combination with the anthropogenic and biogenic O3 precursors emissions. Pollutant emissions from the transport sector represent a very high share of the overall anthropogenic emissions: about 64% of the total NOx emissions, 40% of the total nonmethane VOC emissions and 70% of the total CO emissions in the European Union. The photochemical Urban Airshed Model (UAM-V) coupled with the meteorological mesoscale model MM5 has been applied in order to study the contribution of the transport sector emissions to the O3 levels in the Balkan Region during the summer period when enhanced photochemical O3 production s favored | 
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