Air pollutants produced by UV-B radiation, acting in concert with the direct effects of UV-B on life, alter the flow of elements through the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. Most important of these are the flows of carbon, sulphur and nitrogen. Changes in these affect global and local biogeochemical cycles and atmospheric processes such as rainfall and cloud formation.

For example, changes in the flow of sulphur and nitrogen may reduce the availability of nutrients important to plants. Without these nutrients, plants' ability to produce biomass which stores carbon is reduced. This carbon comes from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

A10 per cent decrease in phytoplankton productivity, for example, will prevent 5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide from being absorbed from the atmosphere ; this will increase the greenhouse effect further.

Decreasing the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored in the biosphere will further increase the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere already rising rapidly due to the burning of fossil fuels. This will cause a rise in atmospheric temperature, the so-called "greenhouse effect."

As US Vice President Al Gore explains the relationship between ozone depletion, increased UV-B radiation and global warming in his book, Earth In Balance: "...the two best-known crises, global warming and stratospheric ozone depletion, reinforce each other in a complex positive feedback loop. Global warming increases the amount of water vapor throughout the atmosphere and traps infrared heat in the lower part of the sky which would otherwise radiate back out to space, passing through the atmosphere. As a result, the stratosphere actually cools as the lower atmosphere warms. A cooler stratosphere with more water vapor means more ice crystals in the ozone layer, especially in the polar regions, where chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) mingle with the ozone in the presence of the ice, thus depleting the ozone at a faster rate. The thinner the ozone layer, the more the ultraviolet radiation strikes the surface of the earth and all organisms living there. The ultraviolet radiation strikes vegetation that normally absorbs vast quantities of CO2 through photosynthesis and seems to seriously disrupt its ability to do so. As the vegetation absorbs less CO2, more of it accumulates in the atmosphere, causing still more global warming - and still more stratospheric cooling. The cycle is reinforced and magnified. It feeds upon itself."

Thus, elevated UV-B radiation will have indirect influences on the weather. If these impacts continue over the long term, change in global and local climate will occur. Increasing global or regional temperatures will further impact the biosphere which further alters the carbon cycle. And so the cycle continues.