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Satellite Measures Show Ozone Reducing Soybean Yields

Soybean field (ARS/USDA)

Soybean field (Agricultural Research Service/USDA)

Researchers from NASA, Department of Agriculture, and several universities have used satellite measurements to show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion along the ground could reduce soybean yields by about 10 percent. Their findings were published recently in the journal Atmospheric Environment (paid subscription required).

The five-year study surveyed widespread ozone damage to soybeans, using both satellite instruments and ozone surface monitors. NASA provided its Ozone Monitoring Instrument, under the agency’s Aura mission investigating issues of atmospheric chemistry, including ozone levels. As noted by NASA researcher Jack Fishman, also lead author of the journal article, ozone “concentrations in non-urban areas in both the U.S. and around the world are increasing, with negative impacts to all living things — plants, animals, and people.”

The satellite measurements, along with readings on the ground, showed elevated ozone levels in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, three states producing much of the nation’s soybean crop. The findings corresponded with USDA’s Soybean Free Air Concentration Enrichment (SoyFACE) data, from tests of plants in open-air field conditions for the effects of ozone and carbon dioxide resulting from climate change.

The authors estimate that the elevated ozone levels could result in soybean crop losses of 10 percent, which translates into lost production valued in excess of $1 billion. Also potentially affected by higher ozone levels are peanut, cotton, rice, and tomato yields.

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