GO GREEN

Record Ozone Loss Over the North Pole

2011-04-30T09:29:00.002+08:00

In the past few weeks, exceptional weather conditions have led to unprecedented ozone depletion over the Arctic. Ground and satellite observations by researchers at the Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (CNRS/UVSQ/UPMC) as well as French models show that ozone loss reached around 40% at the end of March. The phenomenon was caused by an extremely cold and persistent stratospheric winter, resulting in significant ozone destruction, which, unusually, continued into spring.

The ozone layer acts like a shield that protects life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet solar radiation. Ozone concentrations and total content have been continually monitored since the signing in 1987 of an international treaty, the Montreal Protocol, which regulates the production of halocarbons. These are chemical compounds that contain chlorine and bromine and cause the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere (the part of the atmosphere that extends from an altitude of around 10 to 50 km and where the concentration of ozone is at its highest). Since halocarbons remain in the atmosphere for tens of years, it will be several decades before their concentration falls back to its pre-1980 level.

Destruction of stratospheric ozone takes place in the polar regions when temperatures drop below -80°C. At these temperatures, clouds form in the lower stratosphere. Chemical reactions inside them transform compounds derived from halocarbons -- which are harmless to ozone -- into active compounds. These processes lead to the rapid destruction of ozone when sunlight returns over the pole. In the Antarctic, the 'ozone hole' (which results from the destruction of over half the total ozone content in spring) is a recurring phenomenon due to the extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere every winter. In the Arctic, on the other hand, wintertime temperatures are warmer on average than at the South Pole, and weather conditions vary considerably from one year to the next. This explains why ozone depletion can be less significant there. This year, the record ozone loss observed was caused by extreme weather.

Researchers at the Laboratoire atmosphère, milieux, observations spatiales (CNRS/UVSQ/UPMC) have access to a battery of measurement stations and infrared and UV-visible monitoring systems that monitor ozone on a daily basis all around the planet. These observations are part of the World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Program's Global Ozone Observing System. This winter, observations as well as simulations carried out by these teams using the Reprobus model revealed an extremely significant drop in total ozone content over a wide area. The persistence and extent of this loss, which has lasted for several weeks and reached 40% at the end of March, are absolutely unprecedented. French and European teams are currently working in the field north of the Arctic Circle (Kiruna, Sweden) to take detailed observations of these exceptional conditions using instruments on board stratospheric balloons operated by CNES. And instruments at the Haute Provence observation station (sounding balloons and LIDAR system) will be used to detect the impact of this event on lower latitudes when springtime warming of the polar stratosphere pushes ozone-depleted air masses towards these regions.

Without the Montreal Protocol, this year's ozone destruction would have been considerably worse. As long as chlorine and bromine concentrations in the stratosphere remain high, significant ozone depletion similar to that observed this year may happen again during exceptionally cold Arctic winters. According to the latest international report assessing the state of the ozone layer, ozone should recover its pre-1980 levels around 2045-60 over the South Pole, and probably one or two decades earlier over the North Pole.

Smokers at Risk from Their Own 'Second-Hand' Smoke

2011-04-30T09:25:00.002+08:00

It is well known that smokers damage their health by directly inhaling cigarette smoke. Now, research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health has shown that they are at additional risk from breathing environmental tobacco smoke, contrary to the prevailing assumption that such risks would be negligible in comparison to those incurred by actually smoking.

Maria Teresa Piccardo worked with a team of researchers from the National cancer Research Institute, Genoa, Italy, to study the exposure of newsagents in the city to harmful cigarette smoke.

She said, "Newsagents were chosen because they work alone in small newsstands, meaning that any tobacco smoke in the air they breathe is strictly correlated to the number of cigarettes smoked by that newsagent. We studied the contribution environmental tobacco smoke made to carcinogen exposure in 15 active smokers."

The researchers found that environmental tobacco smoke may have a significant impact on smokers' health. For someone who smokes 14 cigarettes a day, their own second hand smoke resulted in exposure the equivalent of smoking an extra 2.6 cigarettes.

According to Piccardo, "Both active and passive smoking contributions should always be considered in studies about health of active smokers."

Music for the Earth

2011-04-28T16:12:00.002+08:00

Introducing Music for the Earth, the latest addition to our Earth Day 2011 programming. Developed in partnership with indie music exponent Sonicbids, Music for the Earth is a talent competition that provides artists with a chance to inspire millions of listeners worldwide with their brand of environmentally-themed music.

Music for the Earth is currently accepting submissions for free! Participants stand to gain considerable exposure, environmental karma, and a chance to take home a gorgeous Gibson Jackson Browne Model 1 Acoustic Guitar.

Why Music? Why now? Because music has the power to educate and change society for the better. Sure, we are not living during the legendary height of protest songwriting, but we have environmental problems that rival, even eclipse those of any other generation. We need serious inspiration to tackle the potentially game-changing environmental challenges our planet faces today.

If you or anyone you know is in a band, we hope you will get involved. Help inspire your listeners to act as environmental stewards, take part in Music for the Earth by visiting the contest page at Sonicbids.com.

In early April, all tracks will be included on the Music for the Earth download site, where your fans – and millions of others around the world who are celebrating Earth Day - will be able to download your tracks.

Good luck!

Positive Impact of the Greenhouse Effect

2009-07-19T13:54:00.005+08:00

Global warming is an event that caused the increased greenhouse effect (green house effect). Actually, the greenhouse effect is not a bad thing, just with the existence of the greenhouse effect the earth we can stay warm, even allowing us to survive until now.

You can likens our earth like a car that was parked in a sunny weather. You must be thinking that the temperature in the car definitely gets hotter than the temperature outside the car. Sunlight enters the car through the cracks in the glass window and automatically heat from sunlight is absorbed by the upholstery, carpets, dashboards and other objects inside the car. When all the object is to release heat absorbed, not all the heat is going to get out through a crack in the window, some of it will bounce back, heat will be radiated back by the objects in the car with a wavelength that is different. So a number of heat energy would stay in the car, and only a small fraction of energy which can escape. In the end, the car would have periodically increased temperature, the longer will be getting hot.

When the sunlight on the earth's atmosphere and surface, about 70% of that energy remained on earth, is absorbed by land, sea, plants and other objects. 30% is reflected back through the clouds, rain and other reflective surfaces. But 70% of heat is not always there in the earth, because if so then one day our world will be a "ball of fire"). The objects in the vicinity of the planet that absorbs sunlight back often radiate absorbed heat. Most of the heat goes into space, stay there and will be reflected back to the bottom surface of the earth when the substances in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor. The heat is what makes the earth's surface to stay warm than in outer space, because more energy is absorbed than reflected back. That event is called the greenhouse effect (green house effect).