ozone, definition of

Ozone is a colorless, odorless reactive gas comprised of three oxygen atoms. It is found naturally in the earth’s stratosphere, where it absorbs the ultraviolet component of incoming solar radiation that could be harmful to life on earth.  Ozone is also found near the earth’s surface, where pollutants emitted from society’s activities react in the presence of sunlight to form ozone.

Wikipedia Entry

• Is ETS a lame duck?
  The Emissions Trading Scheme looks to be stuck in the Senate. Does this mean it will fail?

• Ozone hole: Why Antarctic wildlife is being ‘sunburnt’
  As with all these sort of studies, the scientists are only looking at a few years worth of data, so they have absolutely no idea whether similar cycles of ozone loss occurred naturally and regularly in the past.
• The Polar Vortex Is Spinning Backwards
  This month's backward vortex has *not* caused an outbreak of winter weather. Instead, it has produced a very strong increase in polar ozone.
• California man is first in the US to be charged with smuggling greenhouse gases, prosecutors say
  DOJ will probably recommend SuperMax for life.
• The Ozone Hole and Lower Stratospheric Temperature
  Should the Montreal Protocol be terminated?
• Hunga Tonga-Hunga eruption sent enough water vapor into the stratosphere to cause a rapid change in chemistry
  The tremendous amount of water vapor that this volcano sent to the stratosphere led to a rapid production of sulfate aerosol particles that we were able to observe within days of the eruption,
• Rising ozone is harming the important work of pollinators
  Plants communicate through organic volatile compounds that signal to pollinators that a flower awaits them. But ozone pollution is coming between plant and pollinator, according to a new study.[...]
• Tonga eruption caused irreversible damage to the atmosphere
  It only takes one uncooperative volcano to ruin all our plans to save the planet, no matter how many of us go vegan, compost our food waste and buy electric cars...
• Claim: Discovery Reveals Large, Year-Round Ozone Hole Over Tropics
  An ozone hole, seven times larger than the Antarctic ozone hole, is currently sitting over tropical regions and has been since the 1980s, according to a Canadian researcher.

Related Tags: ozone, atmosphere

A family of man-made compounds that includes, but are not limited to, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), bromofluorocarbons (halons), methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, methyl bromide, and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs). These compounds have been shown to deplete stratospheric ozone, and therefore are typically referred to as ODSs.

Chemical compounds, such as carbon monoxide, methane, non-methane hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides, which in the presence of solar radiation react with other chemical compounds to form ozone, mainly in the troposphere.