Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
ACP
Articles | Volume 25, issue 8
Articles | Volume 25, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4349-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4349-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 25, issue 8
Research article
 | 
22 Apr 2025
Research article |  | 22 Apr 2025

Protection without poison: why tropical ozone maximizes in the interior of the atmosphere

Aaron Match, Edwin P. Gerber, and Stephan Fueglistaler

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Short summary
The ozone concentration in the tropical stratosphere peaks at 26 km, protecting life from harmful ultraviolet light without poisoning it. Climate models reproduce this peak, but textbook explanations yield errors of 10 km. Simplifying the well-understood sources and sinks of ozone, we develop a theory explaining that tropical ozone peaks where its dominant sink transitions from damping of atomic oxygen aloft (mainly via catalytic chemistry) to damping of ozone below (mainly via transport). 
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