The form of the dominant plants tells us something of the weather conditions. B. Population growth and individual demands are stressing the environment. Each day 700,000 metric tons of pollutants are dumped into the atmosphere in the United States alone. B. Local Air Pollution 1. Thermal inversions can trap pollutants close to the ground.
Industrial smog is gray air found in industrial cities that burn fossil fuel.
Tiny particles of these oxides can fall to the earth as dry acid deposition or wet acid deposition-acid rain. D. Damage to the Ozone Layer 1. Ozone in the lower stratosphere absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The thinning of the ozone layer has produced an ozone hole over Antarctica. In response, skin cancer has increased, cataracts may increase, and phytoplankton may be affected.