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Colloquio: Popolazioni indiane e clima ? le trattative internazionali sul clima fanno scomparire i diritti degli indigeni?
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Tavola rotonda: Energie rinnovabili: sperimentare in Germania ? trarre profitto sul mercato mondiale?
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Tavola rotonda: ?Kuvade ? aiuto alle nascite per l’Amazzonia?
Il progetto indiano per le ostetriche nell’ambito dell’azione artistica dell’Alleanza per il Clima ?100 Immagini verdi per l’Amazzonia? del Progetto GRÜN in Brasile.
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Numero minimo di 20 partecipanti: è pertanto indispensabile l’iscrizione
Per il programma dettagliato:coordinamento@climatealliance.it Ozone depletion over Earth’s Arctic region varies widely from year to year in its amount, timing and pattern of loss. That’s the conclusion of a research team using data from the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.
The findings, published in the current issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, provide the first consistent, three-dimensional picture of ozone loss during multiple Arctic winters. The findings confirm previous Arctic ozone loss estimate variations.
“This work provides a consistent picture of how Arctic ozone loss varies between winters,” said lead researcher Dr. Gloria Manney, a senior research scientist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “Scientists will have a better understanding of current Arctic ozone conditions and be better able to predict variations in the future.”
Manney said NASA’s unique vantage point in space provides data needed by policy makers. “They need accurate data to show whether current regulations on ozone-depleting substances are having the desired effect,” she said. “In this way, NASA is providing a vital piece of the puzzle needed to understand this global phenomenon.”
Ozone is a form of oxygen that shields life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer is thinning around the world outside of the tropics. This thinning is a result of chlorofluorocarbons produced by industrial processes, which form reactive compounds like chlorine monoxide in the stratosphere during winter. To date, ozone loss has been most pronounced over Antarctica, where colder conditions encourage greater ozone loss and result in an ozone hole.
Higher temperatures and other differences in atmospheric conditions in the Arctic have thus far prevented similarly large depletions. Nevertheless, as Manney and her colleagues validated in 1994, widespread Arctic ozone loss also occurs, and scientists are eager to understand it better, since formation of Arctic ozone hole could negatively affect populations in Earth’s far northern latitudes.
Many uncertainties remain regarding ozone depletion. Scientists want to know what is causing ozone decreases in Earth’s mid latitudes. They also wish to assess effects of climate change on future ozone loss, especially in the northern hemisphere high latitudes.
In the new study, Manney’s team reanalyzed Microwave Limb Sounder observations during seven Arctic winters (1991 – 2000) to estimate chemical ozone loss. To yield accurate estimates, the team developed a model to account for naturally occurring ozone variations resulting from atmospheric transport processes such as wind variability. Their results show large year-to-year variability in the amount, timing and patterns of Arctic ozone loss. Ozone depletion was observed in the Arctic vortex each year except
1998, when temperatures were too high for chemical ozone destruction. This vortex is a band of strong winds encircling the North Pole in winter like a giant whirlpool. Inside the vortex, temperatures are low and ozone-destroying chemicals are confined. Ozone loss was most rapid near the vortex edge, with the biggest losses in 1993 and 1996. The greatest losses occurred in the months
of February and March.
The variability in the size, location and duration of the Arctic vortex is driven by meteorological conditions. High mountains and land-sea boundaries in the northern hemisphere interact with wind variations to generate vast atmospheric undulations that displace air as they travel around Earth. These waves form in the troposphere (the lowest atmospheric layer), where they produce our winter storms, and propagate upward, depositing their energy in the stratosphere. The energy from these waves warms the stratosphere, suppressing formation of polar stratospheric clouds necessary for ozone destruction. Arctic ozone loss tends to be greatest in years when these wave motions are unusually weak.
