Driving down ozone

Twenty-first-century climate change will alter atmospheric circulation, increasing the flux of ozone from the upper to the lower atmosphere, and changing the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface, according to a study published online in Nature Geoscience.

Michaela Hegglin and Theodore Shepherd used a computer model to examine the impact of climate change on circulation patterns of ozone in the upper atmosphere. They show that climate change will increase the transport of ozone from the upper to the lower atmosphere, and shift the distribution of ozone in the upper atmosphere. The latter change will result in a 20% increase in the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the southern high latitudes during spring and summer, and a 9% decrease in ultraviolet radiation reaching the northern high latitudes, by 2095.

In an accompanying News & Views, David Stevenson writes "climate change could have significant consequences for the distribution of ozone and Earth's UV budget".

doi: 10.1038/ngeo604

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