Satellite Mega Constellations Could Jeopardize Ozone-Hole Recovery
Scientific American
JUNE 25, 2024
Pollution from skyrocketing numbers of satellites burning up in Earth’s atmosphere could threaten our planet’s protective ozone layer
Ozone Related Topics 
Ozone Pollution: An Insidious and Growing Threat to Biodiversity
Yale E360
OCTOBER 7, 2021
Ground-level ozone has long been known to pose a threat to human health. Now, scientists are increasingly understanding how this pollutant damages plants and trees, setting off a cascade of impacts that harms everything from soil microbes, to insects, to wildlife. Read more on E360 ?.
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Joro Spiders Are No Big Deal, and Starlink Satellites Threaten the Ozone Layer
Scientific American
JUNE 17, 2024
Sweltering heat in Greece, ozone-damaging chemicals on the decline and an investigation of what space does to our body are all in this week’s news roundup.
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Smoke from Australian Wildfires Thinned Ozone Layer, Study Finds
Yale E360
MARCH 18, 2022
Smoke from bushfires that spread across Australia in late 2019 and early 2020 destroyed high-altitude ozone in the Southern Hemisphere, according to a study that offers new insight into the threat posed by wildfires. Read more on E360 ?.
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The Ozone Hole Showed Humans Could Damage Earth and That We Could Heal It
Scientific American
SEPTEMBER 12, 2023
The discovery of a hole in Earth’s protective ozone layer in 1985 led to a worldwide effort to heal it, but are there lessons that can be applied to today’s treaty talks on climate change?
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Ozone Treaty Delayed Arctic Melting by 15 Years
Scientific American
MAY 23, 2023
The Montreal Protocol was intended to save Earth’s ozone layer, but it also helped slow global warming and delayed the melting of Arctic sea ice
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Asian monsoon lofts ozone-depleting substances to stratosphere
Environmental News Bits
JUNE 13, 2024
Powerful monsoon winds, strengthened by a warming climate, are lofting unexpectedly large quantities of ozone-depleting substances high into the atmosphere over East Asia, new research shows. The study, led by the U.S.
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New Climate Research From a Year-Long Arctic Expedition Raises an Ozone Alarm in the High North
Inside Climate News
JUNE 23, 2021
By Bob Berwyn After sampling the atmosphere above the Arctic for more than a year during the MOSAiC research voyage , climate scientists say the ozone layer, Earth’s protection against intense ultraviolet radiation, is at risk, despite the progress made in protecting atmospheric ozone by the 1987 Montreal Protocol , the global treaty that banned ozone-harming (..)
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EPA Will Reconsider the Ozone NAAQS — What Is An Adequate Margin of Safety, Anyway?
Law and Environment
NOVEMBER 1, 2021
On Friday, EPA announced that it was reconsidering its 2020 decision to leave the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone unchanged. However, EPA stated that it: will reconsider the decision to retain the ozone NAAQS in a manner that adheres to rigorous standards of scientific integrity. Still whistling in the wind , I fear.
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The hole in the ozone layer has opened unusually early this year
New Scientist
AUGUST 14, 2023
The ozone hole over Antarctica may get close to its record size this year due to repercussions from the ferocious Tonga volcano eruption in 2022
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What Exactly is Ozone? The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Breezometer
DECEMBER 7, 2021
Our ozone layer serves as a lifesaving UV barrier for planet earth, functioning to absorb most of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. At the same time, ground-level ozone pollution is extremely harmful to human health. As the complexity of ozone pollution is often misunderstood, let's take a closer look at this particular pollutant.
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Chemicals used to make decaf coffee are contributing to ozone damage
New Scientist
MAY 25, 2023
A group of unregulated polluting gases known as very short-lived substances are partly responsible for depleting the ozone layer in the tropics
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Recent Megafire Smoke Columns Have Reached the Stratosphere, Threatening Earth’s Ozone Shield
Inside Climate News
MARCH 17, 2022
New research warns that wildfire emissions could unravel progress made under the Montreal Protocol to shrink atmospheric ozone holes.
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Australia's Massive Wildfires Shredded the Ozone Layer--Now Scientists Know Why
Scientific American
MARCH 10, 2023
Smoke from the catastrophic 2019–2020 fires in Australia unleashed ozone-eating chlorine molecules into the stratosphere
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Ozone layer treaty pushed back ice-free Arctic summers up to 15 years
New Scientist
MAY 22, 2023
A 1987 treaty to ban ozone-destroying gases helped delay the first Arctic summer with no ice, which is now projected to happen by 2037 at the earliest
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How smoke from Australia’s megafires ate away at the ozone
New Scientist
MARCH 8, 2023
Wildfire smoke can change the chemistry of the stratosphere, resulting in chlorine molecules that deplete the ozone layer
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The ozone layer was damaged by Australia’s Black Summer megafires
New Scientist
MARCH 17, 2022
Ozone levels above the mid-southern hemisphere dropped 13 per cent after Australia’s worst fires on record due to chemical reactions triggered by the smoke
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One of the longest-lived ozone holes on record is about to close
New Scientist
DECEMBER 21, 2021
This year has been characterised by cold and strong polar vortices, resulting in strong ozone depletion and a reminder of how much the ozone hole can vary annually as it heals
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Ozone layer treaty will slow climate change by protecting plants
New Scientist
AUGUST 18, 2021
The international treaty to protect the ozone layer has had the inadvertent benefit of protecting plants and avoiding up to 1°C of future climate change this century, almost as much as the world has warmed to date.
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The ozone hole over the South Pole is now bigger than Antarctica
New Scientist
SEPTEMBER 15, 2021
Each year between August and October, the ozone over the South Pole is depleted – this year the hole is larger than 75 per cent of the holes that had formed by this point in the season since 1979
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Some crops tolerate ozone pollution better than others, study finds
Environmental News Bits
JANUARY 17, 2024
Differences in the photosynthetic “machinery” of certain crop plants can make them more or less prone to harm caused by ground-level ozone pollution, according to a recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper published by a team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and University … Continue reading Some crops tolerate (..)
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Ozone exposure may be linked to depression in adolescents, study finds
Environmental News Bits
APRIL 8, 2022
Exposure to ozone from air pollution may be connected to a rise in depression among adolescents, a new study has found. The study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology on Monday, is the first to link ozone levels to the development of depression in adolescents over time. Read the full story at The Hill.
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Massive 2022 eruption reduced ozone layer levels
Environmental News Bits
JANUARY 4, 2024
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano changed the chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere in the year following the eruption, leading to unprecedented losses in the ozone layer of up to 7% over large areas of the Southern Hemisphere.
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Ozone pollution causes $63 billion damage per year to East Asian crops
New Scientist
JANUARY 17, 2022
Rising levels of ground-level ozone in China and nearby countries are having a big effect on the yields of staple crops such as wheat, rice and maize
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Potent Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depleting Chemicals Called CFCs Are Back on the Rise Following an International Ban, a New Study Finds
Inside Climate News
APRIL 3, 2023
By Phil McKenna Emissions of a small group of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), man-made chemicals that destroy Earth’s protective ozone layer and fuel global warming, are back on the rise after their production was all but banned more than a decade ago, a new study concludes.
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Landmark Ozone Treaty Could Prevent More Than 400 Million Cases of Cancer
Scientific American
OCTOBER 9, 2021
The Montreal Protocol has helped heal the ozone layer that blocks harmful ultraviolet rays. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.
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Oceans may start emitting ozone-depleting CFCs
Successful Green
MARCH 17, 2021
The world’s oceans are a vast repository... The post Oceans may start emitting ozone-depleting CFCs appeared first on successful GREEN. As atmospheric concentrations of CFC-11 drop, the global ocean should become a source of the chemical by the middle of next century, a new MIT study predicts.
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The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns
Yale E360
MAY 18, 2023
Scientists are worried about the effect this cooling could have on orbiting satellites, the ozone layer, and Earth’s weather. A new study reaffirming that global climate change is human-made also found the upper atmosphere is cooling dramatically because of rising CO2 levels. Read more on E360 →
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Scientists said the ozone hole was recovering. That good news was premature, one study claims
Environmental News Bits
DECEMBER 21, 2023
The recovery of the ozone layer — which sits miles above the Earth and protects the planet from ultraviolet radiation — has been celebrated as one of the world’s greatest environmental achievements.
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Improving EPA’s Latest Ozone Transport Rule
Acoel
JUNE 29, 2022
The agency’s air quality modeling indicates that most areas would receive an ozone reduction of less than 0.1 These air quality impacts are minimal compared with the major ozone reductions resulting from the 1998 SIP Call, which resulted in more than 80,000 megawatts of coal capacity being retrofitted with SCRs. ppb by 2025.
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DC Circuit dismisses utility-backed challenge to EPA cross-state ozone rule
Environmental News Bits
MARCH 6, 2023
A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a utility-supported organization that sought to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s revised 2021 Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule for ozone.
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Ozone layer recovery is on track, helping avoid global warming by 0.5°C
Environmental News Bits
JANUARY 20, 2023
The ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades, with the global phaseout of ozone-depleting chemicals already benefitting efforts to mitigate climate change. Read the full story from the UN Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Association.
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Volcano That Blasted Seawater into the Stratosphere May Have Damaged Ozone Layer
Scientific American
JANUARY 17, 2024
The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai volcano erupted in January 2022 with the force of an atomic weapon. The disaster has launched dozens of new studies about global warming
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Overheated trees are contributing to urban air pollution
New Scientist
JUNE 20, 2024
An aerial survey of Los Angeles reveals that high temperatures cause plants to emit more compounds that can contribute to harmful ozone and PM2.5 air pollution
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Lower-income ZIP code residents feel worse effects of extreme heat, ozone pollution: study
Environmental News Bits
JUNE 17, 2021
The combined health effects of ozone pollution and extreme heat disproportionately hurt poorer areas, according to a new study analyzing hospitalizations by ZIP code in California. Read the full story at Smart Cities Dive.
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Crushed rocks and fertiliser switches can cut nitrous oxide from farms
New Scientist
JULY 10, 2024
Adding crushed basalt rocks and special fertilisers to soils could cut nitrous oxide emissions without harming the ozone layer, but these strategies will cost billions
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High-flying microplastics could pose a threat to the ozone layer
New Scientist
SEPTEMBER 15, 2023
Experiments suggest microplastic fragments with irregular shapes settle more slowly than spherical ones and may reach the stratosphere
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The State of the Air in 2024? Not Great
Union of Concerned Scientists
MAY 13, 2024
The American Lung Association’s State of the Air report measures three of the major types of pollutants in the San Joaquin Valley: long-term particle matter, short-term particle matter, and ozone. Ozone, too, poses significant risks to respiratory health. Ozone plays a dual role in our atmosphere.
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CMIP6: Not-so-sudden stratospheric cooling
Real Climate
MAY 21, 2023
The dominant factors are changes in CO2 (a cooling), ozone depletion (a cooling), warming from big volcanoes, and oscillations related to the solar cycle. That means the greenhouse substances are basically just CO2 and ozone, and they absorb in quite different parts of the spectrum. But why is the stratosphere increasingly chill?
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Montreal Protocol Averted an Additional 2.5 Degrees C of Warming, Study Says
Yale E360
AUGUST 20, 2021
The Montreal Protocol, which phased out the use of ozone-depleting chemicals, not only saved the ozone layer, but also staved off an additional 2.5 degrees C (4.5 degrees F) of warming by the end of this century, according to a new study. Read more on E360 ?.
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Air pollution can make insects mate with the wrong species
New Scientist
APRIL 11, 2024
Ground-level ozone, a product of pollution from cars, degrades insect pheromones, and this can result in mismatched mating and sterile offspring
What Happens When the EPA Technical Staff Disagrees with the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee?
Law and Environment
JUNE 16, 2023
Last week, the EPA Clean Air Science Advisory Committee provided EPA its review of EPA’s Policy Assessment for the Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. Instead, CASAC recommends a significantly lower ozone NAAQS of 55-60 ppb.
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Ozone-destroying CFC chemicals are on the rise again despite ban
New Scientist
APRIL 3, 2023
The production of CFCs was banned globally in 2010, but researchers have detected rising levels of five CFC chemicals from unknown sources
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The ozone layer was destroyed during Earth's biggest mass extinction
New Scientist
JANUARY 6, 2023
Fossils show plants were producing higher levels of sunscreen chemicals to protect against higher ultraviolet light levels at the end of the Permian period
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