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New analysis has found increasing emissions of several ozone-depleting chemicals despite their production being banned for most uses under the Montreal Protocol—and a loophole in the rules is likely responsible. According to the researchers, emissions from these CFCs currently do not significantly threaten ozone recovery.
A study by a pair of researchers at Northwestern University found that when fuel prices drove residents of São Paulo, Brazil, to switch from ethanol to gasoline in their flexible-fuel vehicles, local ozone levels dropped 20%. Ozone levels are relatively high in São Paulo, with hourly concentrations above 75 and 125 µg m ?3
They found that the increase in ozone burden due to the spatial distribution change slightly exceeds the combined influences of the increased emission magnitude and global methane. Based on their findings, they suggested that emission increases in Southeast, East and South Asia may be most important for the ozone change.
Ozone, the main component of smog, is a plant-damaging pollutant formed by emissions from vehicles, cooking stoves and other sources. New research shows that ozone pollution damaged millions of tons of wheat, rice, soybean and cotton crops in India in 2005. Surface ozone pollution in India damaged 6 million metric tons (6.7
Researchers from Rice University and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report in a paper in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry that particularly in Northeastern cities, ozone levels dropped even beyond what was anticipated by cutting emissions of NO x from 2002 to 2006. —Daniel Cohan, co-author. Earlier post.).
Large improvements of air quality in China during the lockdown have been widely reported, but new research shows that two pollutants harmful to human health—fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and ozone—were only slightly reduced. and ozone were only slightly reduced or barely affected.
Springtime ozone distributions for 1984, 1995–2008 in the mid-troposphere (3.0–8.0 Springtime ozone levels above western North America are rising primarily due to air flowing eastward from the Pacific Ocean, a trend that is largest when the air originates in Asia. The US EPA recently proposed new tougher ground-level ozone standards.
Rather, it is the leaking of hydrogen from production, transportation and usage that adds to global warming. Hydrogen is not a greenhouse gas, but its chemical reactions in the atmosphere affect greenhouse gases such as methane, ozone, and stratospheric water vapor. Sand et al. Hydrogen interacts with various biogeochemical processes.
As California continues to reduce local sources of ozone, ozone entering the state from the Pacific makes up a larger fraction of measured ozone levels. An ozonesonde is a balloon which measures ozone from the surface to more than 10 kilometers above the ground.
The decrease in CO 2 equivalent emissions of ODSs (ozone-depleting substances: CFCs, halons, HCFCs, and others) may be offset by the projected increase in their non-ozone depleting substitutes (HFCs) (lines designated as HFC scenarios). Climate and the Ozone Layer. Source: UNEP. Click to enlarge.
Black carbon and tropospheric ozone are harmful air pollutants that also contribute to climate change. Reducing black carbon and tropospheric ozone now will slow the rate of climate change within the first half of this century, the study said.
Among the many climate-related vulnerabilities that can impact its mission, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites a likely increase in tropospheric ozone pollution as potentially making it more difficult to attain National Ambient Air Quality Standards ( NAAQS ) in many areas with existing ozone problems.
used a climate model to analyze the effects of a wide range of chemical species, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, organic carbon, black carbon, nitrate, sulfate, and ozone, from 13 sectors of the economy from 2000 to 2100. Targeting on-road transportation is a win-win-win. Unger et al.
The two combine in the atmosphere to make either nitric acid or peroxynitrous acid; the so-called branching ratio of these two chemicals is important in models of ozone production. This means less of the hydroxyl radical and nitrogen dioxide go away, leading to proportionately more ozone, mostly in polluted areas, Okumura said.
Illustration of projected ozone changes in the South Coast region due to climate change in 2050. Areas in orange and red could see ozone concentrations elevated by 9 to 18 parts per billion. Click to enlarge. These narrow-focused models utilize high-resolution information about the geography, meteorology and emissions of these areas.
The results, published in an open-access paper in the journal Science , suggest that the focus of efforts to mitigate ozone formation and toxic chemical burdens need to be adjusted, the authors suggested. Even so, lotions, paints and other products contribute about as much to air pollution as does the transportation sector.
A team from Duke University in the US and University of York in the UK have utilized a novel method to estimate long-term ozone exposure and previously reported epidemiological results to quantify the health burden from long-term ozone exposure in three major regions of the world. —Karl Seltzer. Karl M Seltzer et al.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer IFF in Germany are designing the distributed and modular production and distribution of green hydrogen for industry, business and transportation throughout the value chain—a hydrogen factory of the future. Another use scenario envisions using the oxygen in agriculture to desulfurize biogas plants.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to $10 million is available ( DE-FOA-0000669 ) this year to demonstrate and deploy electric transportation technologies for cargo vehicles, such as trucks, locomotives and forklifts. systems in roadbeds or rail lines that propel trucks or trains.
Transport Rule states. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized the new Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) (also called the Transport Rule). reductions; annual NO x reductions; and ozone-season NO x. Ozone Season NO x Power Plant Emissions. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge. Upwind and downwind linkages.
CSIRO scientists have developed a new way to account for ozone in computer simulations of the climate. This latest modeling shows that the oceans take much less ozone out of the atmosphere than previously thought. Ozone (O 3 ) is formed by reactions of chemicals such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds—i.e.,
The first peer-reviewed study to directly quantify how emissions from oil and natural gas (O&NG) activities influence summertime tropospheric ozone (O 3 ) pollution in the Colorado Front Range confirms that chemical vapors from oil and gas activities are a significant contributor to the region’s chronic ozone problem.
EPA’s TAG program aims to reduce air pollution in areas of the nation with the highest levels of ambient ozone and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) pollution. Last year, Hyundai Motor also announced its NorCal Zero project, also known as Zero-Emission Regional Truck Operations with Fuel Cell Electric Trucks. Earlier post.)
Ozone pollution near Earth’s surface is one of the main ingredients of summertime smog. It is also not directly measurable from space due to the abundance of ozone higher in the atmosphere, which obscures measurements of surface ozone. —Jin et al.
Currently, anthropogenic N 2 O emissions represent the largest contribution to ozone depletion. The study, published online 27 August in the journal Science , for the first time evaluated nitrous oxide emissions from human activities in terms of their potential impact on Earth’s ozone layer. Source: Ravishankara et al. TgCO 2 e, 9.7%).
The transportation sector remains the largest source of GHG emissions in the state, and saw a 1% increase in emissions in 2017. Transportation sector emission sources include combustion of fuels utilized in-state that are used by on-road and off-road vehicles, aviation, rail, and water-borne vehicles, as well as a few other smaller sources.
Net warming from NO x emissions is a sum over warming (short-term ozone increase) and cooling (decreases in methane and stratospheric water vapor, and a long-term decrease in ozone) terms. These contributions involve a large number of chemical, microphysical, transport and, radiative processes in the global atmosphere.
The purpose of the federal RFG program is to improve air quality in certain areas through the use of gasoline that is reformulated to reduce motor vehicle emissions that lead to the formation of ground-level ozone. States which are designated by EPA as part of the OzoneTransport Region, such as Maine, can “opt-in” to the program.
VOCs, primarily emitted from the tailpipes of vehicles, are a key ingredient in the formation of ground-level ozone which, at high levels, can harm people’s lungs and damage crops and other plants. —lead author Carsten Warneke, Ph.D.,
Mineta San José International Airport’s (SJC) has deployed a fleet of 10 Proterra battery-electric buses that will transport passengers and their luggage between SJC’s parking lots, rental car center, and terminals. The electric bus fleet is anticipated to reduce ozone emissions by 1.1
There are widespread policy assumptions that the phase-out of gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines will over time lead to much reduced emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from road transport and related fuels. While some VOCs are released in exhaust, others may arise from an unexpected source—e.g., Lewis, Marvin D.
Dust, ozone and carbon can accumulate in valleys and basins in California and other Western states. Los Angeles experiences at least one extra day a year of smog that exceeds federal ozone limits because of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emitted by Chinese factories making goods for export, the analysis found. Click to enlarge.
Maersk Container Industry (MCI) is calling for tougher enforcement of European environmental legislation designed to protect the Earth’s ozone layer and help prevent climate change. Current EU legislation bans the “import” or “placing on the market” of reefer containers with significant potential to damage the climate and ozone layer.
On a per-storage basis, the team found that the NiMH technology was found to have the highest environmental impact, followed by NCM and then LFP, for all categories considered except ozone depletion potential. They also found higher life cycle global warming emissions than have been previously reported.
Together, the rules will not only ensure new diesel trucks are as clean as possible, they also put Oregon on a path towards a zero-carbon transportation future. In Oregon, heavy-duty trucks and buses are responsible for nearly 23% of total transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions.
This despite evidence that suggests air pollution impacts from the transportation sector exceed those from greenhouse gases. … Thus to fully account for the complexity of changes to air pollution chemistry, emission changes should be used to drive a chemical transport model (CTM). —Schnell et al. Seasons and times of day.
These connections arise because in many cases the agents of concern are the same, and in many cases the sources of the agents are the same or intimately connected.For example, surface ozone is both an air pollutant and a greenhouse gas. The complex roles that ozone and aerosols play in the atmosphere provide examples of such trade-offs.
They found that reductions in ground ozone during this 35-year period resulted in $600 million in increased production annually by the early 2010s. Another difference is that some grains can be annually modified to withstand greater heat and even higher ozone levels in the air. An open-access paper on the work appears in Nature Food.
An Eligible Area for the awards is either: Designated as a non-attainment area for ozone or carbon monoxide under section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. A maintenance area, as defined in section 5303, for ozone or carbon monoxide. The LoNo Program is not a platform for the development of prototypes, FTA cautions. 7407(d)); or.
The program will cover the major sources of GHG emissions in the State, including refineries and power plants, industrial facilities, and transportation fuels. Transportation fuels. For transportation fuel combustion emissions, the covered entity is the supplier of the fuel. Offset Protocols.
Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (kg Ethene equivalent). Quantifies the production of pollutant ozone (? to ozone layer), the results of the reaction of sunlight on NO x and volatile organic compounds. Characterizes the acid substances increase (NO x , SO 2.) in lower atmosphere, source of acid rains and forests depletion.
Bromine also can remove ozone from the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere. Despite ozone’s beneficial role blocking harmful radiation in the stratosphere, ground-level ozone is a harmful pollutant. Bromine then reacts with a gaseous form of mercury, turning it into a pollutant that falls to Earth’s surface.
Using satellite observations (from the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer, ACE-FTS) and computer models, the research team determined that vigorous summertime circulation patterns associated with the Asian monsoon rapidly transport air upward from the Earth’s surface. Science doi: 10.1126/science.1182274.
The myclimate estimates include not only the direct emissions from the combustion of jet fuel, but also the indirect emissions, such as those from refining and transport of the fuel, by adding 16% of the direct emissions. by adding an amount that corresponds to the direct portion of emissions.
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