Ozone hole has dried Australia, scientists find

[cory777]

Source: BBC News

The Antarctic ozone hole is about one-third to blame for Australia's recent series of droughts, scientists say.

Writing in the journal Science, they conclude that the hole has shifted wind and rainfall patterns right across the Southern Hemisphere, even the tropics.

Their climate models suggest the effect has been notably strong over Australia.

Many parts of the country have seen drought in recent years, with cities forced to invest in technologies such as desalination, and farms closing.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13161265

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Activist News http://activistnews.blogspot.com/

[Dappleganger]

1. Maybe that's what's wrong with Texas.

Rick Perry does use an awful lot of hair product.

[dkofos]

11. No, we have an asshole in the gov. mansion, not an ozone hole.

[Control-Z]

2. I know this proves how terribly

uninformed I am, but I thought we had solved the ozone problem?

[LiberalAndProud]

3. I'm sure I heard that reported.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49040

[tclambert]

7. Looks like it's not getting a lot worse. Not worse is the new good.

[Violet_Crumble]

4. I heard there's a hole in the ozone layer right over Bondi Beach...

That's why when I visit Sydney, I frequent beaches further north ;)

[trud]

5. the last I heard

a little progress was being made.

[Celefin]

9. Just under-informed. There is more to it than CFCs.

Until working in Agroecology research (and learning a lot about the global Nitrogen-cycle) I thought we had solved the problem as well, simply by banning the use of CFCs.
We haven't.

The new problem for the antarctic ozone layer is nitrous oxide (N2O, laughing gas). N2O is released in large quantities from agricultural areas and adjacent water bodies, estuaries and coastal waters in a complex process that goes like this:
When you spread large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer onto fields you always have losses to ground and surface waters as the crops cannot take up all of the applied N (that is 'reactive' nitrogen in the form of different chemical compounds like ammonium, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and others). The most important compound is nitrate (NO3-) and I'll focus on that. Leached nitrate is (together with organic carbon) eaten by denitrifying soil bacteria that turn it into denitrogen gas (N2) under aerated conditions. So far no problem. Nitrous oxide is released in addition to N2, when the oxygen in the soil solution is almost depleted as in all wet areas (streambanks, floodplains, deep lakes, estuaries, bottom layers of coastal waters). Laughing gas is no laughing matter:
In the stratosphere it has the same effect (albeit somewhat slower) as the CFCs we banned in the Montreal protocol... which is why the antarctic ozone layer will not heal anytime soon since we continue to increase the worldwide fertilizer application. Additionally, the CFCs are still up there - with an expected lifetime of about 50 years. We have some decades yet in which the original problem will persist... when they finally fade away, nitrous oxide should be available in the stratosphere in large enough quantities to continue the destruction.

This year we have a record ozone hole over the arctic as well. I'm sitting here in Denmark where there is a public advisory not to indulge in the first springtime warmth: the ozone concentration above northern Europe is approximately 30% lower than normal. The reason for this is somewhat different, namely extremely cold winter temperatures in the stratosphere above the arctic leading to the formation of stratospheric clouds that act as a catalyst for ozone destruction.
The icy stratosphere is likely a result of... global warming.
--> Greenhouse gases trap the heat in the troposphere (down here), thereby cooling the stratosphere.
Say hello to nitrous oxide once more, with its global warming potential 300 times higher than CO2.

So... hope I haven't bored you to death, but this is already horribly simplified (but essentially correct).

For in depth background:
The European Nitrogen Assessment ENA has just been finalized and here is the product of 5 years of research:
http://www.nine-esf.org/ENA-Book

[mountainlion55]

13. thanks for the info

:smoke:

[lunatica]

6. Didn't Australia just have massive rainfall and floods?

And a huge hurricane too?

[TheMadMonk]

12. At the end of a decade of record breaking drought.

We've always had a pattern of several dry years punctuated by one or two wet ones. Now it's a lot more intense, with longer lasting deeper drys and extremely intense wets of shorter overall duration.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. It's a matter of weather shifting

The stratospheric ozone layer typically absorbs ultra-violet radiation, warming the air below. With the opening of the ozone hole over the South Pole due to chlorofluorocarbon pollution, there was severe cooling instead of warming, which eventually caused a southern shift in the winds that whip from west to east around Antarctica.

As this band of winds moved toward the pole, a corresponding dry belt in the subtropics also moved southward, the researchers showed. This left room nearer the equator for a band of increased summer precipitation.

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN1820977720110421?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

The drought has been worst in southern Australia - places like Victoria. The rainfall and floods were in the sub-tropical north, such as Queensland.

[SpiralHawk]

8. Holy Shit....And 'republicons' around the planet want to just keep dicking around

...and denying reality.

What the Flying DoughnutHole is 'conservative' about ignoring real problems and letting your planet's water dry up, and your land burn up?

Nothing.

It is, rather, a radical, embracing posture towards destruction and death.

That don't seem particularly Christ-like to me.

[Thor_MN]

10. There's not much Christ-like behind a lot of conservative behavior

It's a convienent disguise to deflect attention away from their destructive ways and to rationalize away their hate.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. I thought Australia was drowning

Rain, floods, mudslides, all form of wet badness.

They have drought too?

[lunatica]

16. Look at posts #12 and # 14

[and-justice-for-all]

17. There are also gaps in the magnetic field which are not helping either..nt