Atmospheric
Chemistry: Destructive Ozone
Depending on where ozone resides, it can protect or harm
life on Earth.
near the surface, ozone is harmful
causes damage to eyes, lung tissue and plants
is a powerful photochemical oxidant that damages rubber,
plastic, and all plant and animal life
also reacts with hydrocarbons from automobile exhaust and
evaporated gasoline to form secondary organic pollutants such as aldehydes
and ketones
more info in case you're curious:
Ozone pollution originating in
urban areas can extend into surrounding rural and forested areas that are
hundreds of kilometers downwind. Episodes of elevated ozone concentrations
are associated with warm, slow moving high pressure systems and contain
between 30 and 50 parts per billion by volume. Concentrations 3 to 8 times
greater than natural background levels have been observed. During
the summer heat wave of 1988, record ozone concentrations were recorded
in the United States. Even Acadia National Park in Maine, and the Shenandoah
mountains of Virginia, were affected by dangerous levels of ozone pollution.
These rural areas are far removed from industrial regions and polluted
cities. The ozone pollution recorded in Acadia most likely originated in
New York City. That in Virginia may have migrated from refineries on the
Gulf Coast. Photochemical oxidants are the most significant cause of agricultural
loss in the United States. Their damaging effects on vegetation and crops
have been confirmed in the eastern United States, adjacent areas in Canada,
and much of Europe. Ozone alone, or in combination with sulfur dioxide
(SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), accounts for 90%
of the annual crop losses in the U.S. that are caused by air pollution.
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