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Ozone depletion linked to winds over northern hemisphere
01/Oct/2006: Wind circulations above the far northern hemisphere have much more impact on the ozone levels in the upper stratosphere than what was earlier thought, according to a new study carried out by the scientists at University of Colorado at Boulder.
Cora Randal, associate professor at the University’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, said that the wind circulation above the far northern hemisphere allowed nitrogen oxide gases (which reacts with the ozone to produce nitrogen dioxide and hence is considered as a ozone-depleting compound), to descend 30 miles to the top of the stratosphere, in March this year.
She added that since nitrogen oxide gas depletes the ozone layer, this naturally occurring compound can induce atmospheric changes with unanticipated consequences on the climate. Randal, who worked with researchers from the University of Michigan and University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, said that they were well aware of the fact that nitrogen oxide gas increases in the atmosphere during solar storms, but they were not aware that this gas could descend in to the stratosphere even when the sun was relatively calmer.
She said that the ozone (O3) levels in the upper stratosphere is significantly less, when compared to the ozonosphere and hence the effects of nitrogen dioxide on this layer in the stratosphere, is unlikely to cause immediate health threats, like skin cancer in humans.
The upper stratosphere lies several miles above the ozone-hole region, which is found in the lower stratosphere, where the man-made chlorofluorocarbons are decimating the ozone layer. Nitrogen oxide gases that are found above the stratosphere have an important role to play, in regulating the temperature of the Earth’s middle atmosphere.
Randal feels that if human-induced changes in the climate, affect the strength of polar vortex (a large, persistent cyclone, located near the Earth’s poles), we may witness changes in the amount of nitrogen oxide descending in to the stratosphere, which could trigger intense changes in the atmosphere with dire consequences on our climate.
The results of this study have been published in the online issue of Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union.
K Siva
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