Ozone - in the news
A chemical observatory in Cape Verde providing chemists with new information about ozone levels
Ozone – O3 – is a Jekyll and Hyde compound. High in the stratosphere, ca 25 km from the Earth's surface, it has a beneficial role – it absorbs damaging UV radiation from the Sun, which can cause skin cancers, eye cataracts and damage to plants. In the lower part of the atmosphere – the troposphere – ozone is itself a damaging air pollutant and a greenhouse gas. It is its latter role that has recently brought this gas back in the headlines, but this time there's some good news.
Recent data from a UK chemical laboratory on the edge of São Vicente in Cape Verde suggest that larger quantities of this 'bad' ozone than had been previously estimated are being destroyed over the tropical Atlantic ocean. According to Professor Ally Lewis, director for composition research at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAS) based in York University, and a lead scientist on the Cape Verde, project told InfoChem, 'It's all thanks to iodine and bromine ions produced by sea-spray and tiny marine organisms'.
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