article thumbnail

Ozone Pollution: An Insidious and Growing Threat to Biodiversity

Yale E360

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 ?.

Ozone 308
article thumbnail

Smoke from Australian Wildfires Thinned Ozone Layer, Study Finds

Yale E360

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 ?.

Ozone 149
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Recent Megafire Smoke Columns Have Reached the Stratosphere, Threatening Earth’s Ozone Shield

Inside Climate News

New research warns that wildfire emissions could unravel progress made under the Montreal Protocol to shrink atmospheric ozone holes.

Ozone 128
article thumbnail

How smoke from Australia’s megafires ate away at the ozone

New Scientist

Wildfire smoke can change the chemistry of the stratosphere, resulting in chlorine molecules that deplete the ozone layer

Ozone 98
article thumbnail

EPA Will Reconsider the Ozone NAAQS — What Is An Adequate Margin of Safety, Anyway?

Law and Environment

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.

Ozone 130
article thumbnail

New Climate Research From a Year-Long Arctic Expedition Raises an Ozone Alarm in the High North

Inside Climate News

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 (..)

Ozone 144
article thumbnail

Australia's Massive Wildfires Shredded the Ozone Layer--Now Scientists Know Why

Scientific American

Smoke from the catastrophic 2019–2020 fires in Australia unleashed ozone-eating chlorine molecules into the stratosphere

Ozone 80
article thumbnail

Ozone exposure may be linked to depression in adolescents, study finds

Environmental News Bits

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.

Ozone 80
article thumbnail

What Exactly is Ozone? The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Breezometer

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.

Ozone 98
article thumbnail

The ozone layer was damaged by Australia’s Black Summer megafires

New Scientist

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

Ozone 111
article thumbnail

Ozone layer recovery is on track, helping avoid global warming by 0.5°C

Environmental News Bits

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.

Ozone 40
article thumbnail

Oceans may start emitting ozone-depleting CFCs

Successful Green

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.

Ozone 75
article thumbnail

Improving EPA’s Latest Ozone Transport Rule

Acoel

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.

Ozone 40
article thumbnail

The ozone hole over the South Pole is now bigger than Antarctica

New Scientist

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

Ozone 130
article thumbnail

Ozone pollution causes $63 billion damage per year to East Asian crops

New Scientist

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

Ozone 111
article thumbnail

One of the longest-lived ozone holes on record is about to close

New Scientist

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

Ozone 98
article thumbnail

Rising ozone is harming the important work of pollinators

Inhabitant

But ozone pollution is coming between plant and pollinator, according to a new study. Plants communicate through organic volatile compounds that signal to pollinators that a flower awaits them.

Ozone 66
article thumbnail

Ozone layer treaty will slow climate change by protecting plants

New Scientist

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.

Ozone 105
article thumbnail

Landmark Ozone Treaty Could Prevent More Than 400 Million Cases of Cancer

Scientific American

The Montreal Protocol has helped heal the ozone layer that blocks harmful ultraviolet rays. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

Ozone 97
article thumbnail

Climate Change Threatens Already Poor Air Quality in California’s Central Valley

Union of Concerned Scientists

Bakersfield, Fresno, and Visalia are consistently ranked as cities with the worst particulate and ozone pollution , according to the American Lung Association. and ozone concentrations highlighting air quality issues in the Central Valley. Annual average PM2.5 Graphics from CalEnviroScreen 4.0

article thumbnail

Lower-income ZIP code residents feel worse effects of extreme heat, ozone pollution: study

Environmental News Bits

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.

Ozone 81
article thumbnail

News Flash! International Cooperation on the Environment Remains Possible

Law and Environment

Today, the New York Times reported that a recent assessment shows that the world is on track to reach pre-1980 levels of upper atmosphere ozone by roughly 2040. Especially when it’s good news about effective international cooperation on environmental protection issues. .

Ozone 246
article thumbnail

Montreal Protocol Averted an Additional 2.5 Degrees C of Warming, Study Says

Yale E360

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 ?.

Ozone 167
article thumbnail

How Garden-Variety Air Pollution Regulation Promotes Environmental Justice

Legal Planet

and ozone concentrations as a result of the standards.” The analysis drew upon numerous published studies, but also included voluminous evidence that the agency itself had assembled. EPA concluded that “non-Hispanic Blacks will experience the greatest reductions in PM2.5

article thumbnail

Why the Bay Area’s Zero-Emission Appliance Rule is a Big Deal

Legal Planet

Additionally, NOx react with other chemicals in the air to create other harmful pollutants, like fine particulate matter and ozone. In the Los Angeles Basin, where ozone pollution is the worst in the nation, the South Coast Air Quality Management District is also years behind.

article thumbnail

Air Quality as Environmental Justice

Legal Planet

The SIPS cover all sources of pollution – everything from smoky diesel trucks to coal-fired power plants to use of ozone-causing chemicals. The process can be slow, but the advantage is that it casts a wide net.

article thumbnail

Sustainable Innovations Company Changes the Way the World Cleans for People, Planet, and Profit

3BL Media

In 2001, he responded to his observation by establishing Tersano, an organization that would be the first in the world to invent Stabilized Aqueous Ozone (SAO®). Instead, it uses the power of ultra-safe ozone to obliterate germs, including those responsible for the novel coronavirus diseases. A Century-Old Science.

Ozone 130
article thumbnail

The ozone layer was destroyed during Earth's biggest mass extinction

New Scientist

Fossils show plants were producing higher levels of sunscreen chemicals to protect against higher ultraviolet light levels at the end of the Permian period

Ozone 105
article thumbnail

Some new CMIP6 MSU comparisons

Real Climate

This ensemble samples model structural variability (vertical resolution, model top, interactive composition) and some aspects of forcing uncertainty (notably for aerosols and ozone), as well as the initial-condition (‘weather’) variability we are used to seeing. As above, the GISS ensemble diverges slightly from the observations.

2004 241
article thumbnail

Cleaning Innovations Company Demonstrates How Cost-Savings and Sustainability Go Hand-in-Hand

3BL Media

Instead, it harnesses the natural oxidizing power of ozone infused in water to eliminate 99.999% of germs, including those responsible for the novel coronavirus disease. Tersano’s Stabilized Aqueous Ozone is an all-in-one, all-purpose, no-rinse solution. The best part? Tersano’s solution contains no harsh chemicals.

Ozone 237
article thumbnail

Space Tourism Poses a Significant ‘Risk to the Climate’

Inside Climate News

By Phil McKenna The burgeoning space tourism industry could soon fuel significant global warming while also depleting the protective ozone layer that is crucial for sustaining life on Earth, a new study concludes. Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ rockets burn liquid hydrogen and oxygen and pose a lesser climate threat.

Ozone 125
article thumbnail

2022 updates to model-observation comparisons

Real Climate

The key conclusions were that the internal variability, and treatment of ozone and aerosol forcings make material differences to the comparisons and that these need to be considered part of the structural uncertainty in the models.

2022 297
article thumbnail

Why UCS Supporters Are Pressing EPA to Let California Enforce Its Truck Pollution Rules

Union of Concerned Scientists

The direct emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO X ) associated with truck pollution exacerbates asthma , and NO X leads to the formation of ozone, which shows clear evidence for reduced lung function and increased mortality. We in Colorado have many days of problematic ozone. California is leading the way, but states are ready to follow.

article thumbnail

Cleaning products cause indoor pollution levels similar to a busy road

New Scientist

Fragrant chemicals in scented surface cleaners react with ozone to produce pollutant particles that may be harmful to the respiratory system

Ozone 133
article thumbnail

Benefits of Membrane Filtration Systems for Ambient WFI Production

3BL Media

Alternatively, the use of ozone for WFI system sanitization is in vogue for ambient and cold systems, which eliminates the burn hazard but introduces a less severe safety concern—personnel exposure during sanitization. Ambient systems can use ozone injection instead of heat to kill microbes and reduce TOC (i.e., during sanitization).

Ozone 130
article thumbnail

Cleaning Innovations Company Launches Backpack System To Increase Productivity, Safety, and Sustainability

3BL Media

Tersano is recognized for the scientific breakthrough of Stabilized Aqueous Ozone , popularly referred to on the market as simply SAO. Instead, it uses the power of ultra-safe ozone to obliterate germs, including those responsible for the novel coronavirus diseases. Unrivalled Cleaning Efficiency and Performance.

Ozone 130
article thumbnail

Grant Bolsters Bi-National Effort To Expand Air Monitoring Along the Border

3BL Media

Such a data gap could lessen the accuracy of the basin’s data models and weaken efforts to keep the public informed about periods when ozone levels, for example, might reach a point that could affect people with respiratory ailments.

Ozone 130
article thumbnail

What If We Succeed?

Legal Planet

Succeeding in the climate arena will also show that human beings can cooperate to address global issues, just as we did in protecting the ozone layer and eliminating smallpox. We will also have preserved important tropical forests and their incredibly rich and diverse ecosystems.

article thumbnail

Quantum material ‘learns’ like a living creature

Physics World

When they monitored how the material’s electrical conductivity changes as the concentration of its atomic defects is reversibly modulated using external stimuli such as oxygen, ozone and light, they found that it mimics non-associative learning. Universal learning characteristics.

Ozone 145
article thumbnail

How the Montreal Protocol Helped Save Earth from a Climate Time Bomb

Scientific American

The landmark Montreal Protocol treaty, agreed to 35 years ago this month, has reduced the use of chemicals that not only thinned the ozone layer but also warmed the planet.

Ozone 90
article thumbnail

Ozone Hole Would Have Killed Plants and Raised Global Temperatures

Scientific American

Without the Montreal Protocol, more solar radiation would have destroyed plants, lessening the CO2 they absorb. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

Ozone 111
article thumbnail

Keep on Trucking

Legal Planet

and ozone concentrations as a result of the standards.”. EPA also used satellite studies of the effect of the COVID lockdown, with its traffic reduction, on local pollution, which found that the lockdown resulted in the greatest pollution reductions in areas with higher concentrations of people of color.

Ozone 264
article thumbnail

EPA: Power Plant, Pipeline, Cement, Paper, Glass And Other Industries In PA, Other States Face Tighter NOx Standards Under EPA’s Final Good Neighbor Rule

PA Environment Daily

Beginning in the 2026 ozone season, EPA is setting enforceable NOX emissions control requirements for certain sources at existing and new industrial facilities that have significant impacts on downwind air quality and the ability to install cost-effective pollution controls.