HOUSTON – Let me explain something about Ozone because you hear a LOT about it from the TV weatherfolks. Ozone is not necessarily the culprit in air pollution, but rather is easier to measure than the true culprit Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2): one Nitrogen and two Oxygen molecules.
NO2 is the pollutant that vehicles emit into the air and sunlight breaks that down into NO and O, giving us a single oxygen molecule. As it happens, Oxygen doesn’t like to hang out by itself so that single O will go and find a regular O2, which is what we breathe. That turns it into an O3, or Ozone!
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So when we have high Ozone being measured, what that tells us is that there is actually a lot of Nitrogen Dioxide being emitted and broken down. That, along with airborne particulates (soot, dust, smoke, etc), are the two pollutants we watch.
Using polar-orbiting satellites, NASA measured and released this week’s simple proof that our quarantine during March significantly improved our air quality.
Fewer cars = less pollution.
Check out this comparison of March 2019 and then March 2020.
Remarkable isn’t it?!
Airborne particulates have seen similar decreases:
So if there is any positive to all of this craziness right now, perhaps it’s that Mother Nature has had a bit of a reset regarding cleaner air (and most likely cleaner water). The NASA article is an interesting read and right here.
We’re learning a lot of lessons about how we can make a difference in the world. This is one of them.
Frank