The United States and the U.K. may have stopped physically fighting each other after the War of 1812 (and small naval skirmishes for the history buffs out there) but an attack against the Brits is still on-going. Instead of a battle of guns, this is a battle of ozone.
The United States has been 'launching' an ozone assault for some time now. Due to the Bush Adminstration's lack of concern over the environment and the increasing threat of Global Warming there have been many dire consequences. This post details how U.S. production of ozone has hurt the United Kingdom.
The good ozone has been beaten back by global warming, most notably seen in the increasing hole over Antartica. Yet the bad ozone in the picture does not simply sit over each particular city. Earlier studies have hinted that bad ozone can be carried by the jet stream and in this case from the United States to Europe but now it is a fact.
Therefore ozone produced in U.S. cities has increased U.K. cases of respiratory illness and it has been attributed to approximately eight hundred deaths in the European heat wave of 2003 alone. Those are not insignificant numbers we are talking about!
From the Times-U.K.:
The study, by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), suggests that up to 2,000 tons of ozone, originating in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and New York, are hitting Britain each day.
The American ozone usually boosts British levels by 20%-30%, sometimes rising to 40%, often pushing them beyond the safe limit of 50 parts per billion (ppb) set by the World Health Organisation.
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Scientists blame it for up to 800 of the 2,000 extra deaths caused by the 2003 heatwave, when ozone levels in Britain soared to more than 90ppb.
Of course the majority of the ozone particles that affect people come from the area they reside in, yet 20-30 percent increases are not to be taken lightly. The British government has done much to curb their own pollutants but the U.S. government hasn't done much at all.
Successive British governments have tried in vain to cut levels and the Nerc study sought to find the reason. “Our research shows British pollution control measures are not working because a lot of this pollution is coming from America,” said Alastair Lewis, professor of atmospheric chemistry at York University.
The article also notes that the NERC study to be released this week finds fifteen U.S. cities that contribute to the U.K.'s problems. These cities also emit 1,000 tons of carbon monoxide that travel to the United Kingdom. Due to the results, this shatters conventional wisdom that carbon monoxide and ground level ozone do not travel long distances. The findings will be published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
See images of the pollutant travel here.
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