High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Ground Level Ozone Concentration
Ozone in the stratosphere forms a layer that protects the earth against harmful ultra-violet radiation, but tropospheric (ground level) ozone is a damaging oxidant. Exposure to high ozone concentrations can cause respiratory damage, and affects vegetation by damaging leaves and reducing yields.
Ozone is formed by a slow, complicated series of reactions from other pollutants that may be blown over from Europe. The most important man-made precursors are nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds produced by road transport, industrial processes and solvent use. Ozone concentrations tend to be lower in urban areas where it is converted to nitrogen dioxide by reacting with nitrogen oxides.
The Air Quality Strategy1 objective for ground level ozone (to be met by 2005) was for the maximum daily concentration (measured as an 8-hour running mean) of 100µg/m3 not to be exceeded more than 10 times a year. (Objective not currently included in the Air Quality Regulations because of the transboundary nature of ozone). In 2008, this objective was not met at 8 of the 10 sites, including Strath Vaich (65 exceedences), Eskdalemuir (16 exceedences) and Bush Estate (12 exceedences).
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Source: Scotland Air Quality Data and Statistics Database
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