Ozone Emissions
We live with ozone every day. It can protect life on earth or harm it, but we have the power to influence ozone's impact by the way we live - EPA
image by: The Last Glaciers
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Ozone Pollution Remains a Problem Around The World. But Solutions Exist
Ground-level ozone, or O3, is a hazard to human health and the environment, causing respiratory problems and exacerbating asthma while also harming some vegetation and wildlife. Created when by-products of combustion interact with sunlight, it may cause more than a million deaths each year around the world, along with tens of billions of dollars in crop losses.
From a technological standpoint, this is a fixable problem. Available — though sometimes costly — solutions for scrubbing ozone precursors from smokestack emissions exist. In fact, the U.S. auto industry has already managed to cut vehicle emissions of ozone-exacerbating pollutants more than 99 percent over a few decades,…
Resources
Ozone Hole: How We Saved the Planet
The forgotten story of the hole in the ozone layer - and how the world came together to fix it. The scientists and politicians who persuaded Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to take action reveal how the planetary problem was solved.
A new report shows the ozone hole is healing, but it's not all good news
Despite mostly positive changes, a scientific assessment of the Montreal Protocol shows how we still need to do better.
Ground-level ozone continues to damage health, even at low levels
Ground-level ozone is formed by complex interactions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight. As a result, ozone levels tend to be highest in summer months.
How severe drought influences ozone pollution
Although ozone in the stratosphere protects the earth from ultraviolet radiation, at ground level the molecule is a harmful air pollutant to humans, animals and plants. Ground-level ozone forms when nitrogen oxide compounds, primarily from motor vehicle emissions, react with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from natural and anthropogenic sources.
Scientists Call Out EPA Over Ozone Pollution Standards
Ozone is one of the last remaining ambient air pollutants we don’t have under full control. Many places in the US have struggled to meet the federal standard designed to protect public health and ozone pollution at current levels affects millions of Americans, particularly those with lung diseases like asthma. Thankfully, we’ve long had a science-based process to ensure we can set an ozone standard that protects public health.
The ozone hole is both an environmental success story and an enduring global threat
Three decades after Montreal, the ozone layer is showing signs of recovery. In January 2018, a NASA study found that the ozone hole was the smallest it had been since 1988, the year before the Montreal protocol went into effect. But a full recovery will take decades. “CFCs have lifetimes from 50 to 100 years, so they linger in the atmosphere for a very long time,” said NASA scientist Anne Douglass, one of the authors of the study. “As far as the ozone hole being gone, we’re looking at 2060 or 2080.”
The ozone mystery got solved. Here’s what could happen next.
The world rallied around the issue and adopted the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which required the phasing out of ozone depleting substances like CFCs by 2010. It was a big win, and soon enough, the ozone layer began to fix itself. Case closed. That is, until 2018. A study published in Nature last May revealed that the rate of decline of atmospheric CFCs significantly slowed after 2012. The scientists were quite certain that there were new emissions of this banned substance coming from somewhere in East Asia, only, no one could figure out from exactly where.
We’ve got another ozone problem, and it’s not what you think
Most of us know ozone as that benevolent stratospheric layer that absorbs the sun’s harmful UV light and keeps us safe. In the 1980s, scientists found a “hole” in the ozone layer — really just a large section that was getting precariously thin — caused by the use of potent chemicals called CFCs. The world took action and rapidly banned CFCs, effectively solving the problem. But the beneficial ozone up in the stratosphere has an evil cousin, and it’s right here on the ground.
Thirty Years After Montreal Pact, Solving the Ozone Problem Remains Elusive
Despite a ban on chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons, the ozone hole over Antarctica remains nearly as large as it did when the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987. Scientists now warn of new threats to the ozone layer, including widespread use of ozone-eating chemicals not covered by the treaty.
Banned Ozone-Depleting Chemical Is Still Being Produced Somewhere, Scientists Say
Someone appears to be producing a banned ozone-depleting chemical, interfering with the recovery of Earth's damaged ozone layer, according to a newly published study led by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The illicit emissions are believed to be coming from somewhere in eastern Asia, but nothing else is known about the offender. It's a scientific whodunit — or rather, a who's-doing-it.
Drought is not just about water. It affects air pollution, too
Researchers have long known that plants can both help create and cleanse one dangerous air pollutant: ground-level ozone, which causes breathing problems and exacerbates lung damage. Plants can scrub ozone from the air by absorbing the pollutant through their stomata, or pores. But certain plants also emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that react with other atmospheric chemicals to create ozone. Understanding how drought influences these two processes can be tricky.
Ground-level Ozone Basics
Called stratospheric ozone, good ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. This beneficial ozone has been partially destroyed by manmade chemicals, causing what is sometimes called a "hole in the ozone." The good news is, this hole is diminishing. Ozone at ground level is a harmful air pollutant, because of its effects on people and the environment, and it is the main ingredient in “smog."
How Ozone Pollution Works
The weather report on the radio or TV tells you that it is going to be sunny and hot and that an orange ozone alert has been issued. What is ozone? What does an orange alert mean? Why should you be concerned about it?
Ozone Pollution Grows, but It Can Be Fixed
Technology can be improved in developed countries, and spread much more widely in developing countries.
Popular National Parks experience as much ozone pollution as major cities
America’s national parks might seem like an obvious refuge from city smog. Not so, according to new research that finds popular parks’ levels of ozone—a major air pollutant—match those of the country’s largest metropolitan areas.
Ozone Pollution Remains a Problem Around The World. But Solutions Exist
As sources of ozone-exacerbating pollutants increase, countries weigh costs and benefits of tightened regulation.
International Ozone Association
The IOA is a not-for-profit educational association which performs its information-sharing functions through sponsorship of international symposia, seminars, publications, and the development of personal relationships among ozone specialists throughout the world.
Stratospheric Ozone
NOAA uses satellite, airborne and ground-based systems to continuously monitor stratospheric ozone as well as the chemical compounds and atmospheric conditions that affect its concentration.
NASA Ozone Watch
This is the Ozone Hole Watch web site, where you can check on the latest status of the ozone layer over the South Pole. Satellite instruments monitor the ozone layer, and we use their data to create the images that depict the amount of ozone.
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