Estimating the Avoided Tropospheric Ozone Radiative Forcing From US Air Pollution Controls

Abstract Regional air pollution controls imposed by the US Clean Air Act of 1970 reduced emissions of precursors to ozone (O 3 ), a radiatively active gas that primarily acts as a greenhouse gas in the troposphere. From a pair of CESM2(WACCM6) initial‐condition ensembles that simulate a “world avoided” by US air pollution controls from 1970 to 2013, we estimate the avoided tropospheric O 3 stratospheric‐adjusted radiative forcing (SARF) using an O 3 radiative kernel. We estimate an avoided global annual tropospheric O 3 SARF of +15 mW m −2 (+10–24, ensemble range) at the end of the period (2004–2013 average), approximately 4% (3%–6%) of the preindustrial‐to‐present‐day tropospheric O 3 SARF. The avoided SARF varies spatially and seasonally, peaking in the summer over the eastern US and North Atlantic Ocean at +169 mW m −2 (+155–182). While the longwave component dominates the near‐source summertime avoided O 3 SARF (>70%), the shortwave contributes >60% over the Arctic.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2026-10-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2026gl124547
Primary Topic
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Estimating the Avoided Tropospheric Ozone Radiative Forcing From US Air Pollution Controls

Jean‐François Lamarque, Yangyang Xu, Steven J. Smith, Vaishali Naïk et al.
1 links
Geophysical Research Letters
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
article

Estimating the Avoided Tropospheric Ozone Radiative Forcing From US Air Pollution Controls

Jean‐François Lamarque, Yangyang Xu, Steven J. Smith, Vaishali Naïk, Arlene M. Fiore, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Gustavo J. P. Correa, Stephanie Elkins, Xinyuan Yu
article en

Abstract

Abstract Regional air pollution controls imposed by the US Clean Air Act of 1970 reduced emissions of precursors to ozone (O 3 ), a radiatively active gas that primarily acts as a greenhouse gas in the troposphere. From a pair of CESM2(WACCM6) initial‐condition ensembles that simulate a “world avoided” by US air pollution controls from 1970 to 2013, we estimate the avoided tropospheric O 3 stratospheric‐adjusted radiative forcing (SARF) using an O 3 radiative kernel. We estimate an avoided global annual tropospheric O 3 SARF of +15 mW m −2 (+10–24, ensemble range) at the end of the period (2004–2013 average), approximately 4% (3%–6%) of the preindustrial‐to‐present‐day tropospheric O 3 SARF. The avoided SARF varies spatially and seasonally, peaking in the summer over the eastern US and North Atlantic Ocean at +169 mW m −2 (+155–182). While the longwave component dominates the near‐source summertime avoided O 3 SARF (>70%), the shortwave contributes >60% over the Arctic.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 53(20)
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (US), CICERO Center for International Climate Research (NO), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Columbia University (US), Texas A&M University (US)
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 21%
Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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