A new study finds climate change is likely to make upward spikes of ozone at ground level worse by 2050, which could result in many parts of the United States falling out of compliance with air quality standards and increasing risks to public health.
Ozone is a reactive gas that consists of three oxygen atoms. And while it can be naturally occurring, at ground level it is often formed by the interaction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) – which are both air pollutants.
“Climate change affects ozone formation through a complex set of factors, but warmer temperatures are correlated with increases to ozone in polluted areas,” says James East, first author of a paper on the study and a former Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University who is now a researcher at Harvard University. READ FULL ARTICLE