Will enviros try to expand the Montreal Protocol to cover carbon dioxide emissions?
There is no ozone hole anywhere. Only transient thinning. The cause(s) of this phenomenon is anybody’s guess.
The abstract for the Geophysical Research Letters study is below.
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4. Record Arctic ozone depletion could occur again
In the winter of 2010-2011, ozone levels above the Arctic declined to record lows, creating the first Arctic ozone hole, similar to the well-known Antarctic ozone hole. Scientists believe the ozone depletion was due partly to unusually cold temperatures in the stratosphere above the Arctic, as colder stratospheric temperatures make ozone-destroying chemicals such as chlorine more active. As global climate change continues, the Arctic stratosphere is expected to get colder, but levels of ozone-destroying chemicals should decline, as emissions of these chemicals were banned by the Montreal Protocol.
To try to learn more about Arctic ozone dynamics and determine whether the Arctic ozone hole is likely to recur, Sinnhuber et al. looked at satellite observations of temperature, ozone, water vapor, and chemicals that affect ozone in the Arctic atmosphere. They also used a model to determine how sensitive ozone levels are to stratospheric temperatures and chemistry. They find that their model accurately reproduced measured conditions. Their model suggests that stratospheric temperatures 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than in the 2010-11 winter would result in locally nearly complete ozone depletion in the Arctic lower stratosphere with current levels of chemicals. A 10 percent reduction in ozone- depleting chemicals would be offset by a 1 degree Celsius decrease in stratospheric temperatures. The researchers conclude that although ozone-depleting substances should decline in coming decades, temperature changes could offset those effects, potentially leading to future severe Arctic ozone depletions similar to that during the winter of 2010-11.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL049784, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL049784
Title: Arctic winter 2010/2011 at the brink of an ozone hole
Authors: B.-M. Sinnhuber, G. Stiller, R. Ruhnke, T. von Clarmann, and S. Kellmann: Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany;
J. Aschmann: Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
Antarctica is at the bottom of the world. The CFCs went down there and collected in the atmosphere there.
These folks are so anxious for disasters that they are now combining and recycling old ones.
You are correct in your thoughts, Otter.
Chemical activity increases with colder temperatures??? They have no qualms about insulting our intelligence.
The ozone hole appeared over the Arctic last winter, if I am not mistaken. My growing impression of the phenomenon, is that is an escape valve, one of the many mechanisms present in the Earth’s atmosphere, which helps regulate the temperature of the planet.
But that’s just a thought.
Emm, the Antarctic ‘Ozone Hole’ was down to CFC’s (so the Greenies told us) The reduce CFC campaign was successful (so the Greenies told us) and I understand the Antarctic ‘Ozone Hole’ vanished last year. Now it’s down to CO2?!! So what about the scaremongering about CFC’s? Greenfused? I am!!
THERE IS A VOLCANO UP THERE BELOWING ASH OFF THE COAST OF ICELAND? THAT MAY BE THE CAUSE
WOULD ONE THINK..GLACIERS ARE MELTING BECAUSE OF IT… EARTH SURVIVED BILLIONS OF YEARS
AND IT WILL SURVIVE ANOTHER BILLIONS OF YEARS, THANKS TO OUR CREATER NOT THE UNITED NATIONS OR AL GORE FALSE GLOBAL WARMING SCIENCE.. I HAD THIS CLASS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND
IT WAS NOT GLOOM AND DOOM. THESE ENVIRONUTS ARE TRYING TO PLAYING GOD.. THIS EARTH IS A
SELF HEALING PLANET GIVE IN US BY A LOVING GOD…..WE ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE HEALING
PROCESS BY NOT RECYCLE PLASTIC BAGS OR RECYCLING GRASS… SEE GEORGE CARLIN, SAVING THE PLANET ON YOU TUBE……
Those “ozone destroying chemicals” are prime examples of junk science. CFCs are heavier than air, therefore they cannot rise at high elevations. There are already ozone “holes” in the atmosphere that are there naturally to allow sunlight to enter the polar ice caps. It is not a result of depletion. The atmosphere is not fragile but it destroyed and repaired constantly. Of course on the hole part I could be wrong. Nevertheless, the point still stands.