Harvard climate study reveals ozone hole risk in Midwest
Storms common to the Midwest in summer create the same ozone-damaging chemical reactions found in polar regions in winter, according to a new Harvard study. And with extreme weather on the rise, people living in the region could face an increased risk of UV radiation. Powerful storms in the Great Plains inject water vapor that, with temperature change, can trigger the same chemistry eroding the Arctic ozone, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper was led by James G. Anderson, the Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Graphic: James Anderson/Harvard University Researchers tracked on average 4,000 storms each summer penetrating into the stratosphere over the central U.S., a rate far more frequent than previously thought, sparking a call from the paper’s authors for weekly forecasts of ozone loss. “These developments...