Articles | Volume 25, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7111-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7111-2025
Research article
 | 
10 Jul 2025
Research article |  | 10 Jul 2025

Drivers of change in peak-season surface ozone concentrations and impacts on human health over the historical period (1850–2014)

Steven T. Turnock, Dimitris Akritidis, Larry Horowitz, Mariano Mertens, Andrea Pozzer, Carly L. Reddington, Hantao Wang, Putian Zhou, and Fiona O'Connor

Related authors

Applying deep learning to a chemistry-climate model for improved ozone prediction
Zhenze Liu, Ke Li, Oliver Wild, Ruth M. Doherty, Fiona M. O’Connor, and Steven T. Turnock
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1250,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1250, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Unveiling Sulfate Aerosol Persistence as the Dominant Control of the Systematic Cooling Bias in CMIP6 Models: Quantification and Corrective Strategies
Jie Zhang, Kalli Furtado, Steven T. Turnock, Yixiong Lu, Tongwen Wu, Fang Zhang, and Xiaoge Xin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1059,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1059, 2025
Short summary
Visualising historical changes in air pollution with the Air Quality Stripes
Kirsty Jane Pringle, Richard Rigby, Steven Turnock, Carly Reddington, Meruyert Shayakhmetova, Malcolm Illingworth, Denis Barclay, Neil Chue Hong, Ed Hawkins, Douglas S. Hamilton, Ethan Brain, and James B. McQuaid
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3961,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3961, 2025
Short summary
Performance evaluation of UKESM1 for surface ozone across the pan-tropics
Flossie Brown, Gerd Folberth, Stephen Sitch, Paulo Artaxo, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Alexander W. Cheesman, Matteo Detto, Ninong Komala, Luciana Rizzo, Nestor Rojas, Ines dos Santos Vieira, Steven Turnock, Hans Verbeeck, and Alfonso Zambrano
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12537–12555, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12537-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12537-2024, 2024
Short summary
The co-benefits of a low-carbon future for PM2.5 and O3 air pollution in Europe
Connor J. Clayton, Daniel R. Marsh, Steven T. Turnock, Ailish M. Graham, Kirsty J. Pringle, Carly L. Reddington, Rajesh Kumar, and James B. McQuaid
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10717–10740, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10717-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10717-2024, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Climate and Earth System | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Impacts of irrigation on ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality: implications for emission control strategies for intensively irrigated regions in China
Tiangang Yuan, Tzung-May Fu, Aoxing Zhang, David H. Y. Yung, Jin Wu, Sien Li, and Amos P. K. Tai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4211–4232, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4211-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4211-2025, 2025
Short summary
Recommendations on benchmarks for numerical air quality model applications in China – Part 2: Ozone and uncertainty analysis
Ling Huang, Xinxin Zhang, Chris Emery, Qing Mu, Greg Yarwood, Hehe Zhai, Zhixu Sun, Shuhui Xue, Yangjun Wang, Joshua S. Fu, and Li Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4233–4249, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4233-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4233-2025, 2025
Short summary
Efficient use of a Lagrangian Particle Dispersion Model for atmospheric inversions using satellite observations of column mixing ratios
Rona Louise Thompson, Nalini Krishnankutty, Ignacio Pisso, Philipp Schneider, Kerstin Stebel, Motoki Sasakawa, Andreas Stohl, and Stephen Platt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-147,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-147, 2025
Short summary
Opinion: Understanding the impacts of agriculture and food systems on atmospheric chemistry is instrumental to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals
Amos P. K. Tai, Lina Luo, and Biao Luo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 923–941, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-923-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-923-2025, 2025
Short summary
The long-term impact of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions on urban ozone patterns over central Europe: contributions from urban and rural vegetation
Marina Liaskoni, Peter Huszár, Lukáš Bartík, Alvaro Patricio Prieto Perez, Jan Karlický, and Kateřina Šindelářová
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13541–13569, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13541-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13541-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Akritidis, D., Pozzer, A., Flemming, J., Inness, A., and Zanis, P.: A Global Climatology of Tropopause Folds in CAMS and MERRA-2 Reanalyses, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 126, e2020JD034115, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034115, 2021. a
Akritidis, D., Bacer, S., Zanis, P., Georgoulias, A. K., Chowdhury, S., Horowitz, L. W., Naik, V., O'Connor, F. M., Keeble, J., Sager, P. L., van Noije, T., Zhou, P., Turnock, S., West, J. J., Lelieveld, J., and Pozzer, A.: Strong increase in mortality attributable to ozone pollution under a climate change and demographic scenario, Environ. Res. Lett., 19, 024041, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad2162, 2024. a, b
Anenberg, S. C., Horowitz, L. W., Tong, D. Q., and West, J. J.: An Estimate of the Global Burden of Anthropogenic Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter on Premature Human Mortality Using Atmospheric Modeling, Environ. Healt Perspect., 118, 1189–1195, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.0901220, 2010. a
Archibald, A. T., Neu, J. L., Elshorbany, Y. F., Cooper, O. R., Young, P. J., Akiyoshi, H., Cox, R. A., Coyle, M., Derwent, R. G., Deushi, M., Finco, A., Frost, G. J., Galbally, I. E., Gerosa, G., Granier, C., Griffiths, P. T., Hossaini, R., Hu, L., Jöckel, P., Josse, B., Lin, M. Y., Mertens, M., Morgenstern, O., Naja, M., Naik, V., Oltmans, S., Plummer, D. A., Revell, L. E., Saiz-Lopez, A., Saxena, P., Shin, Y. M., Shahid, I., Shallcross, D., Tilmes, S., Trickl, T., Wallington, T. J., Wang, T., Worden, H. M., and Zeng, G.: Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report: A critical review of changes in the tropospheric ozone burden and budget from 1850 to 2100, Elementa, 8, 034, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.034, 2020a. a
Archibald, A. T., O'Connor, F. M., Abraham, N. L., Archer-Nicholls, S., Chipperfield, M. P., Dalvi, M., Folberth, G. A., Dennison, F., Dhomse, S. S., Griffiths, P. T., Hardacre, C., Hewitt, A. J., Hill, R. S., Johnson, C. E., Keeble, J., Köhler, M. O., Morgenstern, O., Mulcahy, J. P., Ordóñez, C., Pope, R. J., Rumbold, S. T., Russo, M. R., Savage, N. H., Sellar, A., Stringer, M., Turnock, S. T., Wild, O., and Zeng, G.: Description and evaluation of the UKCA stratosphere–troposphere chemistry scheme (StratTrop vn 1.0) implemented in UKESM1, Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 1223–1266, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-1223-2020, 2020b. a, b
Download
Short summary
We assess the drivers behind changes in peak-season surface ozone concentrations and risks to human health between 1850 and 2014. Substantial increases in surface ozone have occurred over this period, resulting in an increased risk to human health, driven mainly by increases in anthropogenic NOx emissions and global CH4 concentrations. Fixing anthropogenic NOx emissions at 1850 values in the near-present-day period can eliminate the risk to human health associated with exposure to surface ozone.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint