Climate change may spur the destruction of ozone in unexpected
parts of the globe. In a warming world, many scientists believe,
severe weather will become more common. That could be a problem
in part because powerful rainstorms have the potential to erode
ozone above the United States, researchers report online July 27
in Science. “For 30 years, we’ve studied the problems of ozone
loss and climate change separately,” says team leader James
Anderson, a Harvard atmospheric scientist. “Now it’s pretty
clear that climate change appears to be linked directly to the
loss of ozone.” High-altitude ozone acts as a protective shield,
blocking ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer. Anderson
and his colleagues stumbled on the unexpected connection while
studying strong summer storms fueled by rising heat. During
missions from 2001 to 2007, NASA planes flying close to the edge
of space spotted water spewed high into the sky by convective
storms over the U.S. The goal was to gather useful measurements
for figuring ou