Harmful ozone from Asia is being sent across the World

Smog above Los Angeles (pictured left)

Emissions of gases like nitrogen oxides are one of the sources of harmful ozone in the troposphere. Scientists monitored the level of these gases from 1996-2005 and found that there was a decrease in emissions of nitrogen oxides from Europe and North America, but an increase from industrializing nations in Asia, such as China. However, today the levels of harmful ozone above North America are higher than estimated, so scientists from Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado set out to discover what's happening. The scientists discovered that America may be importing something just as dangerous as lead tainted toys from China, harmful ozone. They discovered that air masses that had the greatest chance of having passed near east and south Asia were found fifteen days later over areas in America that showed the largest increase in ozone concentrations. I found this news interesting because it connected to the article we read about in class about pollution in Asia, in which the authors said that in a short time we might experience pollution from China in America. However, it seems like that time has already come.