Climate Change May Cause a Drop in High-Ozone Levels

It turns out that climate change may have contributed to a drop in high-ozone levels. Scientists have found that a stronger sea breeze due to warmer soil temperatures caused this drop in the Houston area.

In this latest study, the scientists examined ground-level ozone data that was collected over the past 23 years by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The meteorological data was collected by the National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The researchers didn't initially seek a connection between climate change and ozone levels. However, the data clearly pointed to it. The number of days in which ozone levels exceeded federal standards dropped dramatically between 1990 and 2013. Intrigued by this steep incline, the scientists looked a bit more closely at the data.

The researchers first ruled out other meteorological factors, including temperature, humidity and solar radiation. They then realized that the lower ozone readings coincided with days the southerly wind flow was strongest. They also found that climate change, in the form of warmer soil temperatures, had increased this southerly flow.

In fact, the length of time per year Houston is under the influence of southerly flow has more than doubled from 1990 to 2013. This seems to correspond with the drop in ozone levels above federal standards.

"We weren't looking at it from a climate change perspective at first," said Robert Talbot, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Then once we saw it was the sea breeze, we knew it had to be climate."

The findings are published in the journal Atmosphere.

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