SAN FRANCISCO — While scientists know that high concentrations of ozone near the ground can cause significant harm to important crops, that harm has been difficult to measure on a regional, national or global scale, due to a lack of ground-based sensors to monitor this type of pollution. In the United States, for example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitoring stations are concentrated in populated areas rather than in farming regions.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...