Ozone

Assistant Professor Valerie Karplus and her collaborators have demonstrated that measurements of air pollutants taken by NASA satellites are often a good indicator of emissions on the ground. Their approach provides regulators with a low-cost tool to ensure that industrial firms are complying with emissions standards.

Tracking emissions in China

Evaluating a 2014 policy change yields some good news and some concerns.

December 30, 2019

Since 2013, annual emissions of a banned, ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) have increased by nearly 8,000 tons from eastern China. That year South Korea's Gosan GAW Regional Station, on the southwestern tip of Jeju Island, started detecting spikes in CFC-11 levels drifting in from eastern Asia.

Scientists discover the source of new CFC emissions

Despite global phase-out, the ozone-depleting chemical is still in production in eastern China.

May 23, 2019

Using atmospheric emissions taken by the global network AGAGE, Ronald Prinn (left) and Xuekun Fang (right) have identified rising emissions of chloroform that may pose a new threat to ozone recovery.

New threat to ozone recovery

Study finds chloroform emissions, on the rise in East Asia, could delay ozone recovery by up to eight years.

December 20, 2018

AGAGE scientists, collaborators, and invited guests from research institutions around the world gather at the network’s 40th anniversary conference at Endicott House.

Monitoring the atmosphere, changing the world

The AGAGE network celebrates 40 years of measuring ozone-depleting and climate-warming gases.

October 31, 2018

"Science is never sufficient to solve an environmental problem but it's always, always necessary," Susan Solomon said at the 7th annual John Carlson Lecture at the New England Aquarium.

A brief history of environmental successes

Susan Solomon's John H. Carlson Lecture examines past environmental challenges in the context of today's fight against climate change.

November 9, 2017

Scientists in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) have for the first time determined the strength of the stratosphere’s circulation, based on observations of key chemicals traveling within this atmospheric layer.

Strength of global stratospheric circulation measured for first time

Estimate will help gauge hang time of greenhouse gases, water vapor, and ozone in upper atmosphere.

August 28, 2017

Susan Solomon, the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies

Susan Solomon awarded the Royal Society's Bakerian Medal

Professor of atmospheric chemistry honored for her contributions to atmospheric science.

July 18, 2017

Years of rapid urbanization, rising incomes, and transport investment focused on automobiles has led to a significant rise in traffic congestion in Beijing and other Chinese cities. An MIT study considers how effective new measures will be in reducing China’s air pollution.

Tackling air pollution in China

Combining climate policy and vehicle emissions standards could pack a one-two punch.

May 17, 2017

Ozone exacts a particularly heavy toll on people living in economically disadvantaged areas, where industrial and power plants tend to cluster. While policies have been implemented to reduce ozone emissions across the country, they have not yet addressed built-in inequities in the U.S. economy, leaving low-income Americans at greatest risk for health and economic damages.

Modeling the unequal benefits of U.S. environmental policy

New toolset evaluates economic impacts of ozone reduction policies for nine income groups.

February 15, 2017

“There’s no question that carbon dioxide is the biggest contributor to human-caused climate change, so that’s the big focus of mitigation efforts. But there are a number of others that are also significant,” says Jessika Trancik, the Atlantic Richfield Career Development Associate Professor in Energy Studies at MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.

Explained: Greenhouse gases

Carbon dioxide isn’t the only one that matters, and the gases vary widely in potency and duration.

January 30, 2017

A simulation of the Antarctic ozone hole, made from data taken on October 22, 2015.

Scientists observe first signs of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer

September ozone hole has shrunk by 4 million square kilometers since 2000.

June 30, 2016

Observed sea surface temperature (SST) trends for 1982-2012 in degrees Celsius per decade.

Southern Ocean cooling in a warming world

Research suggests Antarctica and the Southern Ocean may be experiencing a period of cooling before warming takes over, thanks to the ozone hole.

June 24, 2016

Forecasting temperature extremes with ozone

MIT study finds that springtime ozone levels are good predictors of summertime temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere.

May 27, 2014

An aerial view of clouds over a mountain range in Greenland.

An Arctic ozone hole? Not quite

MIT researchers find that the extremes in Antarctic ozone holes have not been matched in the Arctic.

April 14, 2014

Shown here is the Cape Grim AGAGE Station in Tasmania, Australia.

Little-studied manmade gases have big warming potential

MIT researchers, as part of an international team, examine the total warming impact of 25 major synthetic greenhouse gases.

April 10, 2014

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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