At night, the ocean cleanses smoggy air, study suggests

LOS ANGELES: The ocean doesn’t just moderate temperatures and influence weather in some of the world’s biggest cities; it also has the power to cleanse the air, new research suggests.

At night, the sea surface can absorb and remove up to 15 percent of smog-forming nitrogen oxides that build up in polluted air in coastal cities like Los Angeles, according to a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.