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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
This paper summarises our current understanding about the impact of aircraft emissions on the atmosphere and describes how the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Upper Troposphere/ Lower Stratosphere (UTLS) Ozone programme is contributing directly to research in this field. Understanding ozone change is a main focus of this research programme.
Ozone is a pollutant at the Earth's surface where it can lead to health problems, is a greenhouse gas and, in the stratosphere, it also shields the Earth from uv radiation. It is known that ozone has been severely depleted in the lower stratosphere (15-20km) over the poles due to increasing concentrations of man-made chlorine and bromine compounds (CFCs etc.). There has also been more limited ozone loss in the mid-latitude lower stratosphere but the reasons for this are less clear because ozone is governed by transport in and out of this region as well as chemistry.