<The ozone layer is located in the so called stratosphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, at an altitude of about 8 km in the Poles, and its function is to protect the earth's surface from harmful solar UV radiation.
More than 170 countries have ratified the Montreal Protocol, an environmental treaty established in 1987 to protect the ozone layer. Should further cooling of the Arctic stratosphere occur, increasing ozone losses can be expected for the next couple of decades. A hole in the ozone layer can lead to intensified UV harmful radiation affecting inhabited Polar regions and Scandinavia, possibly down to central Europe. This could have consequences for human health (increased cases of skin cancer) as well as for biodiversity.>
The northern hemisphere isn't subject to any harm from increased UV getting through the stratosphere because the air is so dirty and dusty and full of haze the sun is a dull glow in the sky.
I watched the sun set high the sky in winter in Beijing. It was a clear "blue" sky, but plenty of fug in the air. The sun simply set as a deep red orb about 30 degrees up in the air, disappearing behind the airborne goop. Ultraviolet light reaching the ground would have been trivial and beneficial to plants.
While it's not quite as bad in Europe and North America, the sun is still a hazy approximation to the intensely brilliant real thing as seen here in the world's melanoma capital.
People getting skin cancer in Europe are silly sunbathing types, or careless people who make too much of a good thing of some summery days.
Ultraviolet light coming in over the Arctic is irrelevant. In winter, when the ozone depletion occurs, there isn't much sun anyway. In summer, as the sun starts smashing oxygen into ozone, the light is brightening and ozone blocks the ultraviolet.
20 years ago, ozone depletion was a big topic along with acid rain. Both are a bit of a yawn these days.
As the tsunami victims found on Boxing Day, sea level rises that happen suddenly are the thing to worry about, not 2 metre sea level rises over 50 years.
Trying to rev up worry about ozone depletion now is odd.
It's too cold and too hot at the same time in the Arctic apparently. That's like we are supposed to worry about inflation deflation in the world's economic system. The panic merchants want to have it both ways.
Mqurice |
