South Coast Air Quality

South Coast Air Quality
Name of Student
Name of University
3 June 2015
Ozone and the Sources of Ozone Pollution
Ozone or O3 is a gas molecule. It is very common in the Ozone layer of the stratosphere, and is usually very helpful in preventing the harmful UV rays from reaching the ground. However, closer to the ground, it causes damage to the lung tissues. Tailpipes, smokestacks, and other sources, greatly contribute to the rise of Ozone levels in especially the troposphere.
Impact on Human Health
Ozone affects the human health by reacting with the lung tissues. Thus, anyone who spends time outdoors may be affected by the Ozone pollution. The groups, who are among the worst affected ones of Ozone pollution, are young children and adolescents, the elderly people, those working outdoors, and those with either lung or heart conditions. Exposure to ozone definitely reduces the lifespan of a person, causes short or long term respiratory problems and weakens our cardiovascular system.
Historic Trends

The data shows us that while regular fluctuations are seen across different years, the ozone content has been gradually been coming down across three decades. This means that the amount of Ozone that is being released into the atmosphere is being reduced, and the checks installed by the government had worked well.
It is definitely positive news as the levels of Ozone are gradually coming down, which means that it will be able to harm the environment much less. The health risks associated with Ozone are also decreased as we experience a fall in the ozone levels in the atmosphere.

Thus it is a huge boost for awareness programs that show the great success of these programs that led to the decrease in ozone pollution.

The spatial patterns reveal quite unsurprisingly that it is the urban centers, which have the highest levels of pollution. The pollution levels also seem to follow the interstate highways, which mean that the ozone pollution caused by vehicles is visibly reflected in the data. The San Bernardino County has the highest levels of pollution, as seen in the data. The Orange County has the lowest levels of pollutions, even though at some times, it exceeds the pollution levels of L.A.
While studying Air pollution patterns, it is important that both the temporal and special models be studied. This will definitely improve our understanding of how ozone pollution affects regions both through time and currently and thus enable us to tackle the problems with greater understanding.
Solutions
The problem of Ozone layer depletion and at the same time of that of the factor of ozone pollution greatly causes problems in any awareness program that is undertaken in a number of cases. This may lead both kinds of campaigns to failure and problems in the implementation of any solution on the ground (Newton, 1995). Thus, one needs to be made properly aware of the two different issues of the ‘Ozone layer depletion’ and ‘Ozone pollution’. It must be kept in mind that the sources of these two different kinds of pollution are different, and neither of them is in conflict. Chlorofluorocarbons emitted from various sources are actually the source of the depletion of Ozone layer, which prevents the entry of harmful UV rays, (Roan, 1989). On the other hand, Ozone pollution is a real problem because of largely the increase in industrialization and the fact that most of our technology does not take ozone pollution into account is a huge problem (Fishman and Kalish, 1990). Changes in consumption patterns, which will lead to decrease in the wasteful designs and ultimately pollution
References
Newton, D. (1995). “The ozone dilemma a reference handbook.” Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.
Roan, S. (1989). “Ozone crisis: The 15-year evolution of a sudden global emergency.” New York: Wiley.
Fishman, J., and Kalish, R. (1990). “Global Alert: The ozone pollution crisis.” New York: Plenum Press.