Ozone Layer Depletion Linked to Climate Variation in US

The latest finding that could be serious threat is the depletion of ozone layer. A team of Harvard scientists announced the discovery of a serious and wholly unexpected risk of ozone loss over the United States. 

Rapid alterations in the climatic conditions are proving to be a big ordeal for U.S. In the month of June the U.S Geological Survey had come up with a study in which they claimed that the seas along the East Coast from North Carolina to New England are going to rise at least three to four times faster than the global average. And, after 1970's this year the U.S saw high temperatures. Global Warming stands out prominently contributing to these climatic changes.

The latest finding that could be serious threat is the depletion of ozone layer. A team of Harvard scientists announced the discovery of a serious and wholly unexpected risk of ozone loss over the United States.

This finding was published in advance online on July 27 issue of Science, was led by James G Anderson, the Philip S. Weld Professor of atmospheric Chemistry. 

What is startling about this study is that, the depletion of the ozone layer over the U.S could allow more damaging ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth's surface leading to increased incidence of skin cancer.

In the system described by Anderson and his team, water vapor injected into the stratosphere by powerful thunderstorms converts stable forms of chlorine and bromine into free radicals capable of transforming ozone molecules into oxygen. There have been studies done earlier that showed that the number and intensity of such storms are linked to climate changes which in turn leads to ozone layer depletion.

"If you were to ask me where this fits into the spectrum of things I worry about, right now it's at the top of the list," Anderson said. "What this research does is connect, for the first time, climate change with ozone depletion, and ozone loss is directly tied to increases in skin cancer incidence, because more ultraviolet radiation is penetrating the atmosphere."

He also said, "We don't know what the development of this has been, we don't have measurements of this deep convective injection of water into the stratosphere that go back in time. But the best guide for the evolution of this is to look at the research that connects climate change with severe storm intensity and frequency, and it's clear that there is a developing scientific case that the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is increasing climate change, and in turn driving severe storm intensity and frequency."

The depletion in Ozone layer not only affects human but also alters the DNA in certain crops like wheat, soybean and corn.

Though they had worked since the mid-1980s to investigate ozone depletion in the Arctic and Antarctic, by the early-2000s, Anderson's team had turned their attention to climate studies. In particular, they were working to understand how the convective clouds updrafts that cause storms to build high into the sky contribute to the creation of cirrus clouds.

The bottom line is that if you increase the water vapor concentration, you actually increase the threshold temperature for executing this chemical conversion -- from the stable forms of chlorine to the free radical form," Anderson said. "If the amount of water vapor and the temperature over the U.S. satisfies the conditions for rapid conversion of inorganic chlorine to this free-radical form, we've got a real problem, because the chemistry is identical to what we previously demonstrated is taking place over the Arctic."