|
|
| Post Number: 1
|
WalksWithBlackflies 
Resident Eco-Freak Bootlicker
Group: Members
Posts: 8830
Joined: Jun. 2004
|
 |
Posted on: Feb. 15 2013, 3:58 pm |
|
   |
It certainly sounds like good news, but I am the only one that really doesn't see the improvement based on the imagery? I'd say that 2011 and 1996 are nearly identical, and that 2002 looks better than 2012.
By international agreement, CFCs have been phased out of use. The policy has real effects, new satellite observations reveal. In 2012, the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica was smaller than it has ever been in the last 10 years.
The new observations, announced by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Feb. 8, come from Europe's Met Op weather satellite, which has an instrument specifically designed to sense ozone concentrations. The findings suggest that the phase-out of CFCs is working, the ESA reports.
CFCs persist in the atmosphere for a long time, so it may take until the middle of the century for ozone concentrations to rebound to 1960s levels, the ESA reports. However, the hole in the ozone over Antarctica should completely close in the next few decades.
http://www.foxnews.com/science....binsite
--------------
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu
|
 |
|
|
| Post Number: 2
|
EastieTrekker
Group: Members
Posts: 1467
Joined: Mar. 2012
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 15 2013, 4:05 pm |
|
 |
We're saved!!!! 
Honestly...I don't even understand what that graphic is showing. Is red bad? Is blue bad? Maybe both (green and yellow are best)?
Thanks for the detailed explanation Fox...
--------------
I request all the possible consumer protection organizations, and fight with their injustice. 
|
|
|
|
| Post Number: 3
|
WalksWithBlackflies
Resident Eco-Freak Bootlicker
Group: Members
Posts: 8830
Joined: Jun. 2004
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 15 2013, 4:07 pm |
|
|
Red is best. The color bar is easier to read on the actual report.
ETA: I changed the size of the image in the OP to make it easier to read.
--------------
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu
|
|
|
|
| Post Number: 4
|
WalksWithBlackflies
Resident Eco-Freak Bootlicker
Group: Members
Posts: 8830
Joined: Jun. 2004
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 15 2013, 4:08 pm |
|
|
Here's a better explaination and figure from the ESA itself:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Act....ecovery
--------------
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu
|
|
|
|
| Post Number: 5
|
big_load
Group: Members
Posts: 21963
Joined: Jun. 2004
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 15 2013, 4:08 pm |
|
|
It looks like red is good. I agree with WWBF that 2002 looks better than 2012. I wonder if they computed an area-weighted average to make the call.
|
|
|
|
| Post Number: 6
|
EastieTrekker
Group: Members
Posts: 1467
Joined: Mar. 2012
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 15 2013, 4:16 pm |
|
|
Hmmm...that's just weird (or maybe appears that way because I know next to nothing about atmospheric science) that the red is directly adjacent to the blue though, isn't it?
--------------
I request all the possible consumer protection organizations, and fight with their injustice.
|
|
|
|
| Post Number: 7
|
|
|
| Post Number: 8
|
EastieTrekker
Group: Members
Posts: 1467
Joined: Mar. 2012
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 15 2013, 4:22 pm |
|
|
(WalksWithBlackflies @ Feb. 15 2013, 4:19 pm)
QUOTE
(EastieTrekker @ Feb. 15 2013, 4:16 pm)
QUOTE Hmmm...that's just weird (or maybe appears that way because I know next to nothing about atmospheric science) that the red is directly adjacent to the blue though, isn't it? You didn't watch "Earth From Space" this past week, did you? Basically, circumpolar winds swirl around the perimeter of Antarctica, blocking surrounding air masses.
Lol...oops! No, I didn't get the chance to unfortunately. Thanks for dropping some knowledge on me.
--------------
I request all the possible consumer protection organizations, and fight with their injustice.
|
|
|
|
| Post Number: 9
|
GoBlueHiker
Obsessive Island Hopper...
Group: Members
Posts: 14217
Joined: Jul. 2006
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 19 2013, 4:37 pm |
|
|
It's a start, and it should get better. The big difference between 2011 and 2012 is more just natural variability than anything, but the overall trend should be getting better soon over the Antarctic, if not already.
The ozone hole was originally caused by CFC's and other ozone-depleting gasses which catalyze on atmospheric ice crystals and break down ozone when they reach the stratosphere, something we didn't discover until the late 70's and 80's. The Montreal Protocol (which is arguably the most successful intergovernmental environmental treaty ever enacted) phased those out worldwide starting in 1989. Most CFC's and HCFC's have an atmospheric lifetime of about 25-50 years. So, coming up near 25 years after the ban was put in place, we're seeing the ozone hole starting to heal. They expect stratospheric ozone to have nearly healed back to previous levels by 2050.
Sometimes, governments looking ahead at impending problems and coming together to enact rules on what we (a global society) can do for our environment have a profound positive impact on our well-being. We only wish today's politicians could be so sensible.
Although to be fair, the global environmental issues today are far more complicated and harder to solve than CFC's. CFC's were easy for industry to replace with other affordable alternatives in aerosol propellants, coolants and the like. Our current issues require a much harder set of choices.
--------------
Wealth needs more. Happiness needs less. Simplify.
www.RainForestTreks.com
|
 |
|
|
| Post Number: 10
|
WalksWithBlackflies
Resident Eco-Freak Bootlicker
Group: Members
Posts: 8830
Joined: Jun. 2004
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 20 2013, 9:01 am |
|
|
--------------
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu
|
|
|
|
| Post Number: 11
|
Ecocentric
Group: Members
Posts: 3987
Joined: Jun. 2009
|
|
Posted on: Feb. 22 2013, 1:26 am |
|
|
I agree GoBlue, but I also remember lot's of people talking about how it would wreck their business and even now there are air conditioning repair people that refuse to believe that there was ever a threat. Back then, the people that made CFC's were going to make money making something else, so they weren't pumping lots of money into disinformation campaigns and lobbying congress. What we have now is a full frontal attack on the truth.
--------------
"Travel suggestions from strangers are like dancing lessons from God." -Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
