Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : ahhaha's ahs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elsewhere who wrote (197)	10/10/2000 4:04:01 PM
From: Ahda	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24758

UN Experts Say Ozone Depletion at Record Level Updated 9:35 AM ET October 6, 2000 By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The ozone hole over the Antarctic is the deepest on record since scientists began measuring the seasonal phenomenon 15 years ago, United Nations experts said on Friday. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said "near total destruction" of the ozone in some layers of the stratosphere had been observed since the middle of September, much earlier than in previous years. More than 50 percent thinning, as compared against the norms set decades ago before the ozone hole was detected, is currently being recorded throughout most of the shifting Antarctic ozone hole, the Geneva-based agency said in a statement. "The most important parameter is how deep the ozone hole is, how much has been lost. This is the deepest ever seen. There is a large area with more than 50 percent depletion," Dr Michael Proffitt, WMO's senior scientific officer, told Reuters. "It's a record. This is the first time we have seen an ozone hole this large in terms of depth," the American added. "It has gone further than the previous record in 1998." The Earth's protective layer shields the planet and humans from harmful ultraviolet radiation which can cause skin cancer and destroy tiny plants at the beginning of the food chain. Two weeks ago, the hole was over the Argentinian city of Ushuaia and Punta Arenas, Chile, to the north of Ushuaia -- exposing populations to the ultraviolet radiation. Chemicals -- including chlorine compounds used in refrigerants, aerosol sprays and solvents and bromine compounds used in firefighting halogens -- are blamed for causing depletion. Extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere during the southern hemisphere's winter set off the chemical processes. From year to year, the intensity of the ozone hole varies in both area and depth, or variation from pre-ozone hole norms set in the 1964-76 period. "The size is not unusual now, it is the depth. The extent or area is now very near to normal values," Proffitt said. Instruments carried by balloons have recorded near total destruction of the ozone layer over a limited altitude range for a number of years. "Presently, ozone is more than 50 percent below the 1964-76 pre-ozone hole norms throughout most of the ozone hole," the WMO said. Since mid-September, a network of 12 stations ringing the Antarctic have observed these "very low values" in a layer from 15 to 20 km (10 to 12.5 miles), it said. "In some cases, the loss appears to be total over this entire range. The near total destruction has occurred earlier than in previous years," it said.

To: Elsewhere who wrote (197)	10/10/2000 4:15:31 PM
From: ahhaha	Respond to of 24758

Hawking ought to find his way back into theoretical physics where he has lost his big time standing instead of wandering into an area where he can only make a fool out of himself. He has done the same as the petroleum geologists who have an environmental ax to grind and that is to extrapolate linearly current circumstances without any regard to the feedback mechanisms which control all nature. Hawking failed to take some classes from Thomas Gold which may have put him in better straits, but given Hawking has turned into a media clown, trying to get at the truth is no longer operational for him. Besides, he has run into the existential road block that all effort is futile and so pursuing something as quaint as the truth has no longer any appeal. The result is clowndom.