ozone

Ozone
• The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's
stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation.
It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in other parts of the
atmosphere, although still small to other gases in the
stratosphere.
• The ozone layer contains less than 10 parts per million of ozone,
while the average ozone concentration in Earth's atmosphere as
a whole is about 0.3 parts per million. The ozone layer is mainly
found in the lower portion of the stratosphere, from approximately
15 to 35 kilometers (9 to 22 mi) above Earth, although its
thickness varies seasonally and geographically.
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• The ozone layer was discovered in 1913 by French physicists
Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson. Measurements of the sun
showed that the radiation sent out from its surface and reaching
the ground on Earth is usually consistent with the spectrum of a
black body with a temperature in the range of 5,500–6,000 K
(5,230–5,730 °C), except that there was no radiation below a
wavelength of about 310 nm at the ultraviolet end of the
spectrum. It was deduced that the missing radiation was being
absorbed by something in the atmosphere.
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• The ozone layer absorbs 97 to 99 percent of the Sun's medium-frequency
ultraviolet light (from about 200 nm to315 nm wavelength), which otherwise
would potentially damage exposed life forms near the surface.
• In 1976, atmospheric research revealed that the ozone layer was being
depleted by chemicals released by industry, mainly chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs).
• Concerns that increased UV radiation due to ozone depletion threatened life
on Earth, including increased skin cancer in humans and other ecological
problems, led to bans on the chemicals, and the latest evidence is that
ozone depletion has slowed or stopped. The United Nations General
Assembly has designated September 16 as the
International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
Sources of Ozone
• The photochemical mechanisms that give rise to the ozone
layer were discovered by the British physicist Sydney Chapman
in 1930. Ozone in the Earth's stratosphere is created by
ultraviolet light striking ordinary oxygen molecules containing
two oxygen atoms (O2), splitting them into individual oxygen
atoms (atomic oxygen); the atomic oxygen then combines with
unbroken O2 to create ozone, O3.
• The ozone molecule is unstable (although, in the stratosphere,
long-lived) and when ultraviolet light hits ozone it splits into a
molecule of O2 and an individual atom of oxygen, a continuing
process called the ozone-oxygen cycle. Chemically, this can be
described as:
 OZONE
• About 90 percent of the ozone in the atmosphere is contained in the
stratosphere. Ozone concentrations are greatest between about 20
and 40 kilometres (66,000 and 131,000 ft), where they range from
about 2 to 8 parts per million. If all of the ozone were compressed to
the pressure of the air at sea level, it would be only 3 millimetres
(1⁄8 inch) thick.
• Although the concentration of the ozone in the ozone layer is very
small, it is vitally important to life because it absorbs biologically
harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation coming from the Sun. Extremely
short or vacuum UV (10–100 nm) is screened out by nitrogen. UV
radiation capable of penetrating nitrogen is divided into three
categories, based on its wavelength; these are referred to as UV-A
(400–315 nm), UV-B (315–280 nm), and UV-C (280–100 nm).
What is Ozone?

• Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas composed of three

oxygen atoms. It is both a natural and a man-made product
that occurs in the Earth's upper atmosphere(the
stratosphere) and lower atmosphere (the troposphere).
Depending on where it is in the atmosphere, ozone affects
life on Earth in either good or bad ways.
• Stratospheric ozone is formed naturally through the
interaction of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation with molecular
oxygen (O2). The "ozone layer," approximately 6 through
30 miles above the Earth's surface, reduces the amount of
harmful UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface.
 OZONE
• Tropospheric or ground-level ozone – what we breathe – is
formed primarily from photochemical reactions between two
major classes of air pollutants, volatile organic compounds
(VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). These reactions have
traditionally been viewed as depending upon the presence of
heat and sunlight, resulting in higher ambient ozone
concentrations in summer months.
• Within the last decade, however, high ozone concentrations
have also been observed under specific circumstances in
cold months, where a few high elevation areas in the Western
U.S. with high levels of local VOC and NOx emissions have
formed ozone when snow is on the ground and temperatures
are near or below freezing.
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• Ozone contributes to what we typically experience as "smog"
or haze, which still occurs most frequently in the summertime,
but can occur throughout the year in some southern and
mountain regions.
• Although some stratospheric ozone is transported into the
troposphere, and some VOC and NOx occur naturally, the
majority of ground-level ozone is the result of reactions of
man-made VOC and NOx. Significant sources of VOC are
chemical plants, gasoline pumps, oil-based paints, autobody
shops, and print shops. Nitrogen oxides result primarily from
high temperature combustion. Significant sources are power
plants, industrial furnaces and boilers, and motor vehicles.
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• Many people mistakenly believe that tropospheric ozone
concentrations are high only in major urban areas, but
high ambient ozone concentrations can and do occur
anywhere. Ozone formation is not limited to big cities
like Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, and New York City. It
is also formed in smaller cities and it is transported
hundreds of miles downwind from where it is created to
affect ambient air quality in other urban and rural areas.
Where ozone is formed, peak concentrations usually
occur during afternoon hours, when sunlight is the most
intense.
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• How does atmospheric ozone affect human
health?
• Ozone has two properties of interest to human health.
• First, it absorbs UV light, reducing human exposure to
harmful UV radiation that causes skin cancer and
cataracts.
• Second, when inhaled, it reacts chemically with many
biological molecules in the respiratory tract, leading to a
number of adverse health effects.
Health Effects of Ozone in the General Population

• Introduction
• Breathing ground-level ozone can result in a number of health effects that
are observed in broad segments of the population. Some of these effects
include:
• Induction of respiratory symptoms
• Decrements in lung function
• Inflammation of airways
• Respiratory symptoms can include:
• Coughing
• Throat irritation
• Pain, burning, or discomfort in the chest when taking a deep breath
• Chest tightness, wheezing, or shortness of breath
 OZONE
• In addition to these effects, evidence from observational
studies strongly indicates that higher daily ozone
concentrations are associated with increased asthma
attacks, increased hospital admissions, increased daily
mortality, and other markers of morbidity. The
consistency and coherence of the evidence for effects
upon asthmatics suggests that ozone can make asthma
symptoms worse and can increase sensitivity to asthma
triggers.
 OZONE AND ITS EXPOUSERE
• Primary exposure occurs when people breathe ambient air containing
ozone. The rate of exposure for a given individual is related to the
concentration of ozone in the surrounding air and the amount of air
the individual is breathing per minute (minute ventilation). The
cumulative amount of exposure is a function of both the rate and
duration of exposure.
• Although ozone concentrations in the outside (ambient) air are
generally similar across many locations in a particular airshed, a
number of factors can affect ozone concentration in
"microenvironments" within the larger airshed (e.g., inside a
residence, inside a vehicle, along a roadway).
• Ozone concentrations indoors typically vary between 20% and 80% of
outdoor levels depending upon whether windows are open or closed,
air conditioning is used, or other factors such as indoor sources.
 OZONE
• People with the greatest cumulative exposure are those
heavily exercising outdoors for long periods of time when
ozone concentrations are high. In addition, during exercise
people breathe more deeply, and ozone uptake may shift from
the upper airways to deeper areas of the respiratory tract,
increasing the possibility of adverse health effects. People
with the lowest cumulative exposure are those resting for most
of the day in an air-conditioned building with little air turnover.
• Ozone levels may also affect indoor levels of some aldehydes
formed as reaction products of ozone with indoor substances
(Apte et al 2008). This provides a potential pathway for
people indoors to experience respiratory effects mediated by
ozone reaction products. Further research is needed to test
the importance of these exposures on health effects.
 How does ozone react in the respiratory tract?
• Because ozone has limited solubility in water, the upper respiratory
tract is not as effective in scrubbing ozone from inhaled air as it is for
more water soluble pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) or chlorine
gas (Cl2). Consequently, the majority of inhaled ozone reaches the
lower respiratory tract and dissolves in the thin layer of epithelial
lining fluid (ELF) throughout the conducting airways of the lung.
• In the lungs, ozone reacts rapidly with a number of biomolecules,
particularly those containing thiol or amine groups or unsaturated
carbon-carbon bonds. These reactions and their products are poorly
characterized, but it is thought that the ultimate effects of ozone
exposure are mediated by free radicals and other oxidant species in
the ELF that then react with underlying epithelial cells, with immune
cells, and with neural receptors in the airway wall. In some cases,
ozone itself may react directly with these structures.
 Ozone Holes
and
How they are formed
Depletion

• The ozone layer can be depleted by free radical catalysts, including

nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydroxyl (OH), atomic chlorine (Cl),
and atomic bromine (Br). While there are natural sources for all of these
species, the concentrations of chlorine and bromine increased markedly in
recent decades because of the release of large quantities of man-made
organohalogen compounds, especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and
bromofluorocarbons.[12] These highly stable compounds are capable of
surviving the rise to the stratosphere, where Cl and Br radicals are
liberated by the action of ultraviolet light. Each radical is then free to
initiate and catalyze a chain reaction capable of breaking down over
100,000 ozone molecules. By 2009, nitrous oxide was the largest ozone-
depleting substance (ODS) emitted through human activities
• The breakdown of ozone in the stratosphere results in reduced
absorption of ultraviolet radiation. Consequently, unabsorbed
and dangerous ultraviolet radiation is able to reach the Earth's
surface at a higher intensity. Ozone levels have dropped by a
worldwide average of about 4 percent since the late 1970s. For
approximately 5 percent of the Earth's surface, around the north
and south poles, much larger seasonal declines have been
seen, and are described as "ozone holes".
• "Ozone holes" are actually patches in the ozone layer in which
the ozone is thinner. The thinnest parts of the ozone are at the
polar points of Earth's axis. The discovery of the annual
depletion of ozone above the Antarctic was first announced by
Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin, in a paper
which appeared in Nature on May 16, 1985.