Ozone garden set to be dedicated at library

Event scheduled to take place Oct. 14

A dedication of the ozone garden will take place at 12:45 p.m., Oct. 14, at the Children’s Department of the Avon Lake Public Library, 32649 Electric Blvd. in Avon Lake.

Avon Lake’s ozone garden, the only one that exists along the Great Lakes and the only one in Ohio to be a part of the International Ozone Garden Network, will monitor ground ozone, according to a news release.

This garden was made possible by a grant from Harvard/Smithsonian and coordinated by the Avonon-the Lake Garden Club with support from Boy Scouts, programmer Victor Pudelski, Avon Lake’s Digital Media and Public Works departments, and Ashley Johnson’s Avon Lake High School environmental classes, the release said.

Johnson’s environmental classes collect data to help NASA monitor air quality.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research then interprets the data along with the Smithsonian, Harvard and other worldwide universities in the International Ozone Garden Network, according to the release.

An interactive informational kiosk is located in the Avon Lake Public Library Children’s Department to teach children year-round about ground ozone, which impacts the health of humans, plants and animals.

In November 2023, NASA will launch the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution satellite.

This will be the first space-based instrument to monitor major air pollutants across North America every daylight hour at high spatial resolution, the release said.

“The city of Avon Lake applauds the efforts of these three groups for taking part in this endeavor to monitor the condition of our atmosphere,” said Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka.

SUBMITTED Students work in the ozone garden at the Children’s Department of the Avon Lake Public Library. A dedication takes place Oct. 14.