[at-l] Ozone Warning on Clingmans

[rafe.bustin@verizon.net (Raphael Bustin)]

At 03:05 PM 6/17/2002 -0500, Shane wrote:

>Anyway, I thought that we were DEPLETING ozone...


The stuff that is (was) being depleted is stratospheric ozone.
As in, way up high in the atmosphere.  Fortunately, that
problem is not as drastic as it was, say, 15 years ago,
because the manufacture and use of ozone-depleting
compounds (chloro- and fluoro-carbons) has declined --
partly due to gov't regulations, and partly due to voluntary
changes by industry.

The bad ozone is tropospheric ozone, the stuff lower down
where humans do their breathing.  The ozone down here is
produced by electrical discharges (including lightning) but
mainly by internal combustion engines.  This problem --
the production of tropospheric ozone -- persists and is
getting worse.

Ozone is toxic in high concentrations.  It's commonly used
as a disinfectant, eg. in pools and spas.

For some reason (I don't recall why) the Smokes seem to
collect more than their share of tropospheric ozone.


rafe b.