“Earth’s ozone layer on the rebound, UN report finds”
(G&M, Nov 6, 2018, A1, A7) reports that the ozone layer near the Arctic
should be fully healed and closed by 2030s and the much larger hole by the
Antarctic will close by 2060s.
The ozone layer protects us and the entire planet’s ecosystem
from excessive Sun ultraviolet B (UV B) radiation: which causes human sunburns
and can lead to skin cancer.
That’s the good news
part.
But closings the ozone layer holes has a down side:
the holes allow airborne carbon and other greenhouse gases to safely escape – thereby slowing Global Warming,
A catch-22 for sure.
Other facts mentioned in the article (A7):
- · The ozone layer is some 40 km thick and starts 10 km above the planet’s surface.
- · Both holes are seasonal: expanding during their respective winter-spring seasons and closing (fully or partially) thereafter.
- · In 2018, the South Pole hole peaked at 24.8 million square kilometres. This is 16% less than the 2006 peak.
For a better understanding (See Wikipedia “Ozone
layer” and “Ozone depletion”, and citations.)
- · The term 'ozone hole' is catchy but inaccurate. It refers to any section of the stratosphere where the level of ozone (O3) has been noticeably reduced or 'thinned out'.
- Ozone ( O3) is created mostly at the Equator by the breakdown of normal oxygen (O2) as it absorbs the Sun’s dangerous UV C (100 – 240 nm) rays.
- O3 constitutes no more than 0.3 ppm of the entire atmosphere (0.000003) and, even before the 1970s, was under 10 ppm (0.00001) of the atmosphere layer that bear’s its name: the Ozone Layer.
- The Ozone Layer is, in fact, nearly all standard 02 oxygen and abundant N2 nitrogen with traces of other gases -- which along with O3 account for less than 1% of the atmosphere.
Nitrogen is 78% of the entire atmosphere and Oxogen (O2) 21%
· O2 is the normal state of
Oxygen and O3 (which is highly unstable) is created only when the Sun’s
ultraviolet UV C rays (100 – 240 nm) break up O2 molecules. The free O atoms either reunite to
make O2 or a loose O occasionally and rarely latches onto an existing O2
to create O3 ozone. (Hence the miniscule O3 figures.)
- O3 in turn breaks down to an O2 molecule and a free floating O atom when struck by UV B (240 - 315 nm) rays.
The above, simple, two-stage
cycle then begins again.
- O3 is the only atmospheric gas that is known to absorb UV B (240-315 nm) and is said to eliminate 97% to 99% of UV B rays from the Sun.
- UV B rays cause sunburns, cataracts, and skin cancers, but also allow the skin to manufacture Vitamin D – essential for health bones.
- Compounds used in industry, agriculture and consumer products that are now known to rise to the Ozone Layer and which --as they break up blocking UV rays -- release atoms that reduce the O3 production cycle, have been banned or substantially reduced. The U.S.A. banned CFCs in 1978 and international agreements beginning with the 1987 Montreal Protocol have led to worldwide reduction of ODS (Ozone Depleting Substances): namely, CFCs, halons, bromides, hydroxides, nitrogens and chlorides[iii].
- NASA has been tracking the Arctic and Antarctic ozone ‘holes’ since 1979 and their videos are readily available at https://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/multimedia/index.html.
- Currently, the north ‘hole’ is tiny and present only a few days a year. The south ‘hole’ is huge, covering all of Antarctica, and lasts for months.
- There are 4 different types of UV rays of which 3 have dangerous consequences to animal and plant life on Earth:
1.
Deadly VUV
(Vacuum UV) ( 10 – 100 nm) is blocked totally by super abundant Nitrogen: first
in the Ionosphere and thereafter in the Mesosphere[v]
2.
Deadly
UV C (100 – 240 nm) is blocked totally by abundant Oxygen in the Stratosphere
and Ozone Layer.
3.
UV
B (240 – 315 nm) is mostly blocked in the Ozone Layer by O3. Excessive exposure
leads to sunburns, cataracts and skin cancers.
4.
UV
A (315 – 400 nm) penetrates fully into
the earth and is absorbed by all plant and animal life. It is the source of
‘tans’ and causes skin aging over decades.
So
O3 and its filtration of UV B rays is only one of 3 essential ‘filtration
steps’, with abundant Nitrogen and Oxygen doing most of the protective work.
Observations and doubts:
1.
The
ozone ‘holes’ disappear for large parts of each year and then expand seasonally.
These modulations are recognized as being directly related to
our cold vs hot seasons, sunlight hours and regular wind patterns.
However, El Nino and La Nina seasonal changes to water
temperatures off of Peru have major effects on wind and temperature and
rainfall patterns throughout the world, so their ‘natural fluctuations’ need to
be taken into account.[vi]
2. Other ‘natural’ factors that have only recently been recognized are:
i)
Normal
Stratospheric clouds over Antarctica significantly reduce O3 during the early
spring.
ii)
Volcano
activity - with direct emissions of gases and particle matter -affect the
stratosphere and Ozone layer (O3 levels).
These spew into the atmosphere and even Ozone Layer massive amounts of bromine, chlorine, hydrogen chloride, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and extensive ash particles.
These spew into the atmosphere and even Ozone Layer massive amounts of bromine, chlorine, hydrogen chloride, sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and extensive ash particles.
Eruptions such as U.S. Mount St,
Helens in 1980, the Philipine’s Mt. Pinatubo
in 1991, and Antarctic’s own volcanic Deception Island eruption in 1970 and the
recent 2018 Mt Erebus eruption. There
are some 1500 volcanoes in the planet surface and hundreds more active under
the oceans[vii].
Some 50 surface volcanoes erupt each year!
In 2018 alone, “Hawaii’s Kilauea
volcano provided a spectacular demonstration of nature’s power, as earthquakes,
eruptions, and lava flows took place and fissures developed from May through
August, forcing evacuations and destroying hundreds of homes. But Kilauea was
not alone—out of an estimated 1,500 active volcanoes, 50 or so erupt every
year, spewing steam, ash, toxic gases, and lava. In 2018, other erupting
volcanoes included the Fuego volcano in Guatemala; Shinmoedake peak in Japan;
Mount Sinabung , Mount Agung, and Anak Krakatau (“Child of Krakatoa”) in
Indonesia; Piton de la Fournaise on Réunion Island; Mount Etna in Italy;
Villarrica in Chile; the Mayon volcano in the Philippines, and more. Collected
below are scenes from the wide variety of volcanic activity on Earth over the
past year.”[viii]
http://eschooltoday.com/ozone-depletion/how-volcanoes-affect-ozone-levels.html
Additional
‘natural’, sudden events that scientists do not fully take into account and which
necessitate massive ‘rebuilding’ –which would be counted as ‘human
activity’ in their calculations are:
iii)
Widespread,
massive wildfires which rage for months: such as those that raged across
large sections of North America in the last 3 years. These fires not only
produce a massive loss of trees and release carbon and other gases but also
destroy human habitations and communities – which then need to be rebuilt. Cases in Point: Fort McMurry Alberta, 2016[ix],
British Columbia 2017 and 2018[x],
California, 2018[xi]
iv)
Earthquakes which demolish homes and buildings
and roads: creating and releasing dust and debris and noxious gases into the
atmosphere while simultaneously necessitating replacement with more cutting of
trees, and making of more cement and more steel and more glass and more asphalt.
Japan alone has had 2 super Earthquakes in urban areas that literally leveled
cities: 1923 = Tokyo and Kobe in 1995[xii].
v)
Similarly,
hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, Monsoon season and other
flooding – all of which require ‘rebuilding’ and duplication with
their related effects on the atmosphere.
Each
of these sudden ‘natural;’ events trigger the additional large scale human activity
of ‘rebuilding’. To simply count such
rebuilding into ‘human activity’ numbers is unfair and a massive blind spot.
vi)
The
Sun and its 11 year solar storm cycle with surprise super flare ups affect the Earth’s O3 levels for days and up to months.[xiii] Massive
impacts on the Earth occurred in March 1989, July 2000, April 2001, October
2003 and most recently in September 2017[xiv].
Such extra-terrestrial ‘natural’ forces also need to be taken
into account.
Research on Greenland ice cores has confirmed that the
September 1859 – yes – mid-19th
century solar flare up was the worst in the last 500 years and released 6.5
times more than any solar flare up of the 20th century[xv].
“The
protons ionised nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the atmosphere, which then
formed nitrogen oxides. The nitrogen oxides in turn reacted with ozone – a
molecule made up of three oxygen atoms, breaking it into oxygen molecules and
atomic oxygen.
This
breakdown caused global atmospheric ozone levels to {immediately] drop by 5%. In comparison, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and
other chemicals have depleted the levels by about 3% in recent years.”[xvi]
Finally, some doubts:
1.
It
seems impossible that so scarce a molecule as O3 (less than 10 for every 1,000,000
molecules in the stratosphere) can block over 96% of the Sun’s continuous flow
of UV B rays. The numbers don’t add up.
Think needle in a haystack!
2. If the north ‘hole’ is almost closed
fully and only the Antarctic ‘hole’ is large, how can humans be responsible?
The overwhelming bulk of human
population and especially the technology for the industrial production of CFCs
and other O3 harming compounds is nearly all Northern Hemisphere.
As is clear from any world map, the U.S.A.,
Europe, Russia, China, India and most of Africa are all above the Equator and
its northward winds.
Only Australia, New Zealand, lower
Africa and South America are below the Equator, and both their population
numbers and industrialization are nowhere near that of the northern hemisphere.
Yet the North Pole ‘hole’ is almost
gone while the Antarctic O3 thinning is still huge.
Put simply, if human industrial, agricultural and
consumer activities were to blame, the size and duration of the two ozone holes
should be reversed.
3.
Which
UV rays are involved in breaking down CFCs, bromides and other ODS in the
stratosphere/ozone layer?
*** I cannot find any internet information on this important
point.
4.
Human
activities are stated to produce 30% of bromides in the atmosphere and these
interfere with O3 ozone layer levels[xvii].
In fact, bromine is claimed to be 40 to 100 times more destructive of O3 than
chlorine[xviii]
Q:
Does none of the 70% of bromides produced and emitted into the atmosphere ‘naturally’
from salt seas, salt beds and the crust of the earth[xix] not also rise to the ozone layer and affect
O3 levels?
One can ask the same question regarding all the ODS ‘ozone harmful chemicals’ (chlorine, hydroxides, nitrogens, etc,) as they all occur in nature.
In conclusion,
If we, in trying to better human life and
raise standards of living have made ‘inadvertent’ mistakes that need
correcting, we learn and take action.
But underestimating the natural forces of the planet
and Gaia’s rhythms and cycles - and ‘burps’ – and those of the Sun is unfair and foolish.
We are the human ant.
To quote
NASA: “As scientists race to better
understand humankind’s role in ozone loss, they must first be able to tease out
the natural causes.[xx]”
[i] https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/assessments/ozone/2010/twentyquestions/Q1.pdf
[ii]
Ibid.
[iii] http://www.theozonehole.com/odcs.htm
[iv] https://ourworldindata.org/ozone-layer
[v] http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/GenChem2/A2/1.html
[vii] https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-many-active-volcanoes-are-there-earth?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products
[viii]
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/12/photos-2018-the-year-in-volcanic-activity/578086/
[ix] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Fort_McMurray_wildfire
[x] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-wildfires-cost-insurers-127-million-1.4309611
and https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/state-emergency-bc-wildfires-1.4803546
[xi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_California_wildfires
[xii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_Great_Kant%C5%8D_earthquake
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake
[xiii]
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010802080620.htm
[xiv]
ibid., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_storms;
https://www.space.com/38057-sun-unleashes-decades-strongest-solar-flare.html
[xv] https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11456-solar-superflare-shredded-earths-ozone/
[xvi]
Ibid.
[xvii]
https://www.livescience.com/32072-bromine.html
[xviii]
Ibid.
[xix] https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/bromine/basics/facts.asp
[xx] https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/violent_sun.html
No comments:
Post a Comment