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Increasing temperatures due to climate change will alter weather conditions, resulting in a deterioration in air quality by increasing the number of days of high ozone concentration, according to a new newspaper article on air quality in the center of the Atlantic coast published by researchers from the University of Delaware. College Land, Ocean and Environment (CEOE).
Cristina Archer led a team of CEOE as its members gathered nearly 50 years of data from air monitoring and climate models from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. (DNREC) to badyze climate trends. They found that rising temperatures would increase the number of days in a year when ozone levels in the Earth's lower atmosphere become dangerous.
Archer said the DNREC, which funded his study, is concerned about near-ground-level ozone for two main reasons: the impacts on human health and compliance with federal and state regulations limiting high levels of ozone. # 39; ozone.
"Ozone has significant negative health effects, particularly on the cardiopulmonary and respiratory systems," Archer said. "This is particularly serious if you already have breathing problems, asthma or infections, for example. In Delaware, we have little or no success (ozone regulation). When we are not, the Environmental Protection Agency must act. It's relevance. This is why we must know now that there is a problem to be able to act. "
The study "Global warming will worsen ozone pollution in the United States at the center of the Atlantic coast", was recently published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.
Archer is a professor at CEOE and holds a joint position between the Physical Ocean Science and Engineering (POSE) program of the School of Marine Science and Policy and the Department of Geography. Sara Rauscher, an badociate professor in the Department of Geography, and Joseph Brodie, a former graduate student and postdoctoral researcher at the CEOE, are currently directors of atmospheric research at the Center for Ocean Observing Leadership at Rutgers University.
Ozone in the upper atmosphere is beneficial for blocking the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. However, ozone closer to the surface of the Earth – the subject of the study – can lead to pulmonary complications among the population. Ground-level ozone can cause coughing, irritation of the throat and chest, exacerbation of asthma, inflammation of lung cells, worsening of chronic lung diseases, and even reduced ozone capabilities immune system fight against diseases. On days when ozone levels are high enough, prolonged exposure can even cause permanent damage to the lungs. The EPA has regulated ozone as a pollutant because of the dangerous nature of ozone.
Near-ground ozone is formed as a result of photochemical reactions between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The ultraviolet rays of the sun are the catalyst for reactions between NOx emissions and VOCs. NOx emissions occur when cars or power plants burn fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline. VOCs are also of human origin and come from a variety of sources, including cars and gasoline engines, paints, insecticides, cleaners, industrial solvents, and chemical manufacturing.
According to Archer, it is difficult to limit ozone because it is a secondary pollutant.
"There are primary pollutants that are emitted and secondary pollutants that form in the air," Archer said. "Ozone is one of those [secondary pollutants]. You can not go into a chimney and measure the output of ozone. You will get precursors or other compounds that form it, but never ozone itself. "
Most of the time, near ground level ozone is not a problem for Delaware. As noted in the Archer document, during the 1980s, the average number of ozone-rich days in Delaware was about 75 days, while it was less than 20 days in 2015 it has decreased about two days a year due to stricter regulations regarding air quality.
However, the team of researchers found that rising temperatures due to climate change threatened to reverse the decrease in near-ground ozone pollution and increase the number of days where surface ozone levels become dangerous.
The conditions that lead to ozone-rich days are typical of hot summer days.
As global temperatures increase, summers will continue to heat up and extend the number of days of high ozone concentration. Archer also said more ozone-rich days could also occur in the fall and spring, as rising global temperatures will make the seasons warmer on average. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global temperatures have risen to a degree Celsius from 2019 and will rise again to a degree Celsius by the time the end of the 21st century. Mr Archer also said that days of high concentration of ozone could become more intense due to increasing concentrations of ozone.
The increase in the number and intensity of days with high concentrations of ozone is worrisome because the adverse health effects affect people who spend a lot of time outdoors. , including children and people who exercise outdoors. More and more people are coming out more often in the summer, potentially increasing human exposure to dangerous levels of near-ground ozone.
In the article, Archer said that a "status quo" approach would inevitably lead to a dangerous increase in the number of days with high concentrations of ozone. Archer said the country needed stricter regulations if he wanted to limit the number of days rich in ozone.
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