Atmospheric iodine monoxide (IO) is a radical that catalytically destroys heat trapping ozone and reacts further to form aerosols. Here, we report the detection of IO in the tropical free troposphere (FT). We present vertical profiles from airborne measurements over the Pacific Ocean that show significant IO up to 9.5 km altitude and locate, on average, two-thirds of the total column above the ...

[1] We implement a new isoprene oxidation mechanism in a global 3-D chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). Model results are evaluated with observations for ozone, isoprene oxidation products, and related species from the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation aircraft campaign over the eastern United States in summer 2004. The model achieves an unbiase...

The ozone molecule contains three atoms of oxygen and is mainly formed by the action of the ultraviolet rays of the sun on the diatomic oxygen molecules in the upper part of the Earth's atmosphere (called the stratosphere). Atmospheric pollution near the Earth's surface can form localized areas of ozone. The stratospheric ozone layer protects life on Earth by absorbing most of the harmful ultra...

UV irradiance at the earth’s surface is intimately related to stratospheric ozone. This gas tends to be concentrated in the lower stratosphere (hence the notion of an ozone layer) and is primarily responsible for the absorption of solar UV radiation (UVR). UVR has been recognised for many years (e.g. Worrest, Dyke & Thomson, 1978; Worrest et al., 1981; Calkins, 1982) as a potential stress for o...

Ozone (O3) acts as a protective layer in the environment from harmful UV rays. Over 100 years, ozone has been used in the medicine. Due to its unique property, noninvasive nature and wide spectrum of action, it has been used in dentistry also. Ozone has been used in treatment of alveolitis, osteoradionecrosis of jaw, bacterial and viral infections, implantology. It also inhibits plaque formatio...

Chlorine- and bromine-containing ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) are controlled by the 1987 Montreal Protocol. In consequence, atmospheric equivalent chlorine peaked in 1993 and has been declining slowly since then. Consistent with this, models project a gradual increase in stratospheric ozone with the Antarctic ozone hole expected to disappear by ∼2050. However, we show that by 2013 the Mont...

Industrial chlorofluorocarbons that cause ozone depletion have been phased out under the Montreal Protocol. A chemically driven increase in polar ozone (or "healing") is expected in response to this historic agreement. Observations and model calculations together indicate that healing of the Antarctic ozone layer has now begun to occur during the month of September. Fingerprints of September he...

[1] As part of the Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) mission, ozonesondes were used to make ozone vertical profile measurements at nine locations in the North Pacific. At most of the sites there is a multiyear record of observations. From locations in the western Pacific (Hong Kong; Taipei; Jeju Island, Korea; and Naha, Kagoshima, Tsukuba, and Sapporo, Japan), a site i...