研究表明:北半球过去二十年臭氧污染水平增加

Study: Ozone Pollutants Still Increasing in Northern Hemisphere

研究表明,北半球臭氧污染物仍在增加

A new study has found that ozone pollutants in Earth’s lower atmosphere increased across the Northern Hemisphere over the past 20 years.

一项新研究发现,在过去20年里,地球低层大气中的臭氧污染物在整个北半球都有所增加。

Ozone is a form of oxygen. In Earth’s upper atmosphere, it acts as a barrier to block harmful radiation from the sun. But closer to Earth’s surface, ozone is a common pollutant. At ground level, high levels of ozone can harm people’s lungs and damage plants.

臭氧是氧气的一种形式。在地球高层大气中,它阻挡来自太阳的有害辐射,起到屏障的作用。但更靠近地球表面的话,臭氧就会是一种常见的污染物。地平面臭氧含量高会损害人类的肺部和植物。

A European research program called the In-Service Aircraft for a Global Observing System collected the data. The program equips commercial aircraft with instruments to measure atmospheric conditions during flight. The study, published recently in Science Advances, is the first to use information from passenger planes.

欧洲一个名为“在役飞机全球观测系统”的研究计划收集了这些数据。该计划为商用飞机配备了在飞行期间测量大气状况的仪器。最近发表在《科学进展》上的这项研究是首个使用客机信息的研究。

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) carried out the research. It is a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado Boulder.

环境科学合作研究所(简称CIRES)进行了这项研究。它是由美国国家海洋和大气管理局(简称NOAA)和科罗拉多大学波德分校合作而建。

The researchers used ozone observations from more than 60,000 flights worldwide. The scientists centered on five areas of the Northern Hemisphere – the northeastern United States, Germany, India, Southeast Asia and Northeast China and Korea.

研究人员使用了全球6万多次航班的臭氧观测数据。科学家们集中研究了北半球的五个地区——美国东北部、德国、印度、东南亚以及中国东北与韩国地区。

The Northern Hemisphere was studied because it contains a large percentage of the human population affected by air quality.

之所以对北半球进行研究是因为北半球受空气质量影响的人口占很大比例。

The study found that overall, ozone levels in most parts of Earth’s atmosphere increased in the Northern Hemisphere during the past 20 years.

这项研究发现,总的来说,在过去的20年里,北半球地球大气层大部分地区的臭氧含量有所增加。

The researchers did, however, report lower ground-level ozone in some areas, including North America and Europe. But they said those results were canceled out by increases in ozone higher up in the atmosphere.

然而,研究人员确实报告称,在一些地区,包括北美和欧洲,地平面臭氧水平较低。但他们表示,那些结果却被大气中臭氧含量的增加抵消了。

Audrey Gaudel was the lead writer of the study. She is a CIRES scientist working in NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory. The results are, in her words, “a big deal because it means that as we try to limit our pollution locally, it might not work as well as we thought.”

奥德丽·高德尔是这项研究的主要作者。她是环境科学合作研究所的科学家,在美国国家海洋和大气管理局的化学科学实验室工作。用她的话来说,该结果是“一件大事,因为那意味着当我们试图限制本地污染时,它可能不会像我们想象的那样奏效。”

Gaudel said the data collected by international aircraft was very valuable in creating a clear picture of ozone levels over the Northern Hemisphere over long periods. Other methods of long-term data collection have produced conflicting ozone results. She noted that between 1994 and 2016, commercial aircraft planes had captured nearly 35,000 ozone profiles.

高德尔说,国际飞机收集的数据对于长期清晰地描绘北半球的臭氧水平非常有价值。进行长期数据收集的其它方法得出了相互矛盾的臭氧结果。她指出,从1994年到2016年,商用飞机捕获了近3.5万个臭氧剖面。

The research team used the data to estimate changes in lower atmospheric ozone from the mid-1990s to 2016. On average, ozone values increased about 5 percent every 10 years.

该研究小组利用这些数据来估算从20世纪90年代中期到2016年低层大气臭氧的变化。臭氧含量平均每10年增加5%。

To explore what was causing the changes, the scientists examined levels of nitrogen oxides, a mixture of gases made up of nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen oxides are considered to be atmospheric pollutants often resulting from human activities.

为了探究造成这种变化的原因,科学家们检测了氮氧化物的水平,氮氧化物是一种由氮气和氧气组成的气体混合物。氮氧化物被认为是大气污染物,通常是人类活动所造成的。

The researchers used the aircraft data to create models to estimate how nitrogen oxide releases affected atmospheric conditions. They said results suggested that increased releases in the tropics, the area close to the equator, “were likely driving the observed increase of ozone in the Northern Hemisphere.”

研究人员利用飞机数据创建模型来估计氮氧化物的释放如何影响大气条件。他们说,研究结果表明,热带地区(靠近赤道的地区)臭氧释放量的增加,“可能使在北半球所观察到的臭氧含量增加。”

The team said it found some of the sharpest increases in areas where ozone levels were once the lowest. These included Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as other parts of Southeast Asia, and India. Those areas had very low ozone values between 1994-2004, but very high levels in recent years, between 2011-2016.

该研究小组称,他们发现臭氧水平增长最显著的地区曾经臭氧水平最低。这些地区包括马来西亚、印度尼西亚以及东南亚其它地区和印度。1994间至2004年间,这些地区的臭氧含量非常低,但在2011年至2016年间,这些地区的臭氧含量非常高。

Next, Gaudel said her team plans to take a closer look at ozone levels in the tropics. She thinks Africa will be one area to watch as a possible “hot spot” of increasing pollutive releases in coming years.

高德尔说,她的团队接下来计划更仔细地观察热带地区的臭氧水平。她认为,作为未来几年里污染排放增加的可能“热点”,非洲值得关注。

I’m Bryan Lynn.

布莱恩·林恩为您播报。

来源:英语点津

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