Ozone Holes News

January 26, 2025

Top Headlines

Technology for Oxidizing Atmospheric Methane Won't Help the Climate

Jan. 17, 2025 — Atmospheric scientists show proposed 'geoengineering' effort to remove methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere could worse air quality while providing minimal climate ...

Earth's Air War: Explaining the Delayed Rise of Plants, Animals on Land

Jan. 7, 2025 — If you like the smell of spring roses, the sounds of summer birdsong, and the colors of fall foliage, you have the stabilization of the ozone layer to thank for it. Located in the stratosphere, where it shields the Earth from harmful ultraviolet ...

Nanoparticle Bursts Over the Amazon Rainforest

Nov. 8, 2024 — Atmospheric aerosol particles are essential for the formation of clouds and precipitation, thereby influencing the Earth's energy budget, water cycle, and climate. However, the origin of aerosol particles in pristine air over the Amazon rainforest ...

Ozone Pollution Reduces Tropical Forest Growth

Sep. 12, 2024 — Ozone gas is reducing the growth of tropical forests -- leaving an estimated 290 million tons of carbon uncaptured each year, new research ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:51pm EST

Scientists Find a Human 'Fingerprint' in the Upper Troposphere's Increasing Ozone

Aug. 2, 2024 — Scientists confirmed that much of ozone's increase in the upper troposphere is likely due to humans. A team detected a clear signal of human ...

New Study Disputes Hunga Tonga Volcano's Role in 2023-24 Global Warm-Up

July 26, 2024 — New research is exploring the climate impact of the 2022 Hunga Tonga volcano eruption and challenging existing assumptions about its effects in the ...

Oil and Natural Gas Development in Permian Is a Key Source of Ozone Pollution in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Study Finds

July 16, 2024 — New research shows that ozone concentrations at Carlsbad Caverns National Park frequently exceed Environmental Protection Agency health standards, ...

Complex Impact of Large Wildfires on Ozone Layer Dynamics

July 12, 2024 — In a revelation highlighting the fragile balance of our planet's atmosphere, scientists have uncovered an unexpected link between massive wildfire events and the chemistry of the ozone layer. Using ...

Air Pollution Harms Pollinators More Than Pests, Study Finds

July 11, 2024 — Pollinators experienced a 39-percent decline in foraging efficiency after being exposed to elevated air pollution levels. In contrast, plant-eating aphids and other pests were not significantly ...

Cutting Farm Nitrous Oxide Emissions Helps Climate and Ozone Layer

July 10, 2024 — Adding crushed basalt rocks and special fertilizers can reduce potent nitrous oxide (N2O) greenhouse gas emissions and help safeguard the stratospheric ozone ...

Major Milestone in Cutting Harmful Gases That Deplete Ozone Layer and Worsen Global Warming

June 11, 2024 — A new study has revealed significant progress in the drive to reduce levels in the atmosphere of chemicals that destroy Earth's ozone layer, ...

Climate Change Will Make Ozone Pollution Worse: Here's How

June 5, 2024 — 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 ...

The Clues for Cleaner Water

May 6, 2024 — By using experimental electrochemical analyses, mass spectrometry, and computational quantum chemistry modeling, the researchers created an 'atomic-scale storyline' to explain how ozone is generated ...

Asian Monsoon Lofts Ozone-Depleting Substances to Stratosphere

Apr. 23, 2024 — Powerful monsoon winds, strengthened by a warming climate, are lofting unexpectedly large quantities of ozone-depleting substances high into the atmosphere over East Asia, according to new research. ...

Oxidant Pollutant Ozone Removes Mating Barriers Between Fly Species

Apr. 11, 2024 — Researchers show that ozone levels, such as those found in many places on hot summer days today, destroy the sex pheromones of fruit fly species. As a result, some natural mating boundaries ...

Novel UV Broadband Spectrometer Revolutionizes Air Pollutant Analysis

Apr. 10, 2024 — A research team has developed a broadband UV dual-comb spectrometer with which air pollutants can be continually measured and their reaction with the environment can be observed in real ...

Massive Antarctic Ozone Hole Over Past Four Years: What Is to Blame?

Nov. 21, 2023 — Despite public perception, the Antarctic ozone hole has been remarkably massive and long-lived over the past four years; researchers believe chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) aren't the only things to ...

Massive 2022 Eruption Reduced Ozone Layer Levels

Nov. 20, 2023 — The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano changed the chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere in the year following the eruption, leading to unprecedented losses in the ozone layer of up to 7% ...

New Study Indicates C4 Crops Less Sensitive to Ozone Pollution Than C3 Crops

Nov. 13, 2023 — Researchers have studied the effects of elevated O3 on five C3 crops (chickpea, rice, snap bean, soybean, wheat) and four C4 crops (sorghum, maize, Miscanthus × giganteus, switchgrass). Their ...

Signatures of the Space Age: Spacecraft Metals Left in the Wake of Humanity's Path to the Stars

Oct. 16, 2023 — Using tools hitched to the nose cone of their research planes and sampling more than 11 miles above the planet's surface, researchers have discovered significant amounts of metals in aerosols in ...

Alarming Results from World First Study of Two Decades of Global Smoke Pollution

Sep. 20, 2023 — The world's first study of the increase in pollution from landscape fires across the globe over the past two decades reveals that over 2 billion people are exposed to at least one day of ...

Atmospheric Scientists Reveal Much of Houston's Ozone Exceedance Due to Air Flows from the North

Sep. 11, 2023 — Atmospheric science researchers published findings on Houston's ozone. They found that while local emissions play a role in the rise of Houston's ozone levels, most of the pollutants are ...

Studies Highlight New Approaches to Addressing Climate Change

Sep. 11, 2023 — Failing to achieve climate mitigation goals puts increasing pressure on climate adaptation strategies. In two new studies, researchers address novel approaches to these ...

Bees Struggle to Find Flowers Because of Air Pollution

Sep. 8, 2023 — A new study has found that air pollution is preventing pollinators finding flowers because it degrades the ...

An Early Warning System for Joint Heat and Ozone Extremes in China

Aug. 9, 2023 — Scientists have identified large-scale climate patterns that could be used to predict the co-occurrence of extreme heat and ozone days in China months before they occur. Like predictions for ...

Geomagnetic Field Protects Earth from Electron Showers

Aug. 4, 2023 — Geophysicists studied the activity of high energy electrons and clarified the unexpected protective role of the geomagnetic field surrounding the ...

Potent Greenhouse Gas Produced by Industry Could Be Readily Abated With Existing Technologies

July 5, 2023 — Researchers have found that one method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is available, affordable, and capable of being implemented right now. Nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas and ...

Study of Earth's Stratosphere Reduces Uncertainty in Future Climate Change

June 26, 2023 — New research reduces uncertainty in future climate change linked to the stratosphere, with important implications for life on Earth. A significant source of uncertainty relates to future changes to ...

Montreal Protocol Is Delaying First Ice-Free Arctic Summer

May 22, 2023 — New research shows that the 1987 global treaty, designed to protect the ozone layer, has postponed the occurrence of the first ice-free Arctic by as much as 15 ...

Air Pollution from Oil and Gas Production Responsible for $77 Billion in Annual US Health Damages, Contributes to Thousands of Early Deaths, Childhood Asthma Cases Nationwide

May 8, 2023 — A new study found that air pollution from the oil and gas sector in the United States has substantial adverse impacts on air quality, human health, and health costs. The findings show that the ...

Air Pollution Impairs Successful Mating of Flies

Mar. 14, 2023 — A research team demonstrates that increased levels of ozone resulting from anthropogenic air pollution can degrade insect sex pheromones, which are crucial mating signals, and thus prevent successful ...

Ozone Pollution Is Linked With Increased Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Disease

Mar. 10, 2023 — New evidence shows that exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) ozone limit is associated with substantial increases in hospital admissions for heart attack, heart failure and stroke. Even ...

Smoke Particles from Wildfires Can Erode the Ozone Layer

Mar. 8, 2023 — A new study finds that smoke particles in the stratosphere can trigger chemical reactions that erode the ozone layer -- and that smoke particles from Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 ...

Upsurge in Rocket Launches Could Impact the Ozone Layer

Feb. 14, 2023 — Researchers have summarized the threats that future rocket launches would pose to Earth's protective ozone ...