Ozone layer breakdown of ozone in the stratosphere results in reduced absorption of ultraviolet radiation. Consequently, unabsorbed and dangerous ultraviolet radiation is able to reach the Earth’s surface at a higher intensity. Ozone levels have dropped by a worldwide average of about 4 percent since the late 1970s. For approximately 5 percent of the Earth's surface, around the north and south poles, much larger seasonal declines have been seen, and are described as "ozone holes". The discovery of the annual depletion of ozone above the Antarctic was first announced by Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin, in a paper which appeared
Tropospheric ozone is the reaction of •OH with NO to form nitric acid at high NOx levels. If nitrogen monoxide (NO) is instead present at very low levels in the atmosphere (less than 10 approximately ppt), the of peroxy radicals (HO• ) formed from the oxidation will instead react with themselves to form peroxides, and not produce ozone. Health effects depend on ozone precursors, which is a group of pollutants, primarily generated during the combustion of fossil fuels. Reaction with daylight ultraviolet (UV) rays and these precursors create ground-level ozone pollution (Tropospheric Ozone). Ozone is known to have the following health effects