Stratosphere global

There is additional evidence that stratospheric O concentrations have declined an average of 2.5% globally from 1969 to 1986. After data was adjusted for known cycles that cause variations ia the O, declines were most evident during wiater months (62,63). The cause of this global decrease ia stratospheric O is under iavestigation. 

Similar heterogeneous reactions also can occur, but somewhat less efticientiy, in the lower stratosphere on global sulfate clouds (ie, aerosols of sulfuric acid), which are formed by oxidation of SO2 and COS from volcanic and biological activity, respectively (80). The effect is most pronounced in the colder regions of the stratosphere at high latitudes. Indeed, the sulfate aerosols resulting from emptions of El Chicon in 1982 and Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 have been impHcated in subsequent reduced ozone concentrations (85). 

The other global environmental problem, stratospheric ozone depletion, was less controversial and more imminent. The U.S. Senate Committee Report supporting the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 states, Destruction of the ozone layer is caused primarily by the release into the atmosphere of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar manufactured substances—persistent chemicals that rise into the stratosphere where they catalyze the destruction of stratospheric ozone. A decrease in stratospheric ozone will allow more ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach Earth, resulting in increased rates of disease in humans, including increased incidence of skin cancer, cataracts, and, potentially, suppression of the immune system. Increased UV radiation has also been shown to damage crops and marine resources."... 

The EPA summary (4) for stratospheric ozone and global climate protection lists the basics of the title ... 

Title VI Stratospheric Ozone and Global Climate Protection - The law builds on the market-based structure and requirements currently contained in EPA s regulations to phase out the production of substances that deplete the ozone layer. 

Title VI - Stratospheric Ozone and Global Climate Title VII - Provisions Relating to Enforcement... 

Scientific Assessment of Stratospheric OzoTie 1989, World Meterological Organization Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project, Report No 20, 7 and 2, 1989... 

The decrease is continuing due to global adherence to the provisions of the Montreal (1989) and London (1990) Protocols, and it is hoped that the most deleterious CFCs will eventually be phased out completely. As a result of their work, Rowland and Molina were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for 1995 (together with P. Crutzen, who showed how NO and NO2 could similarly act as catalysts for the depletion of stratospheric ozone). Several excellent accounts giving more details of the chemistry and meteorology involved are available. 

Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland used Crutzen s work and other data in 1974 to build a model of the stratosphere that explained how chlorofluorocarbons could threaten the ozone layer. In 1985, ozone levels over Antarctica were indeed found to be decreasing and had dropped to the lowest ever observed by the year 2000, the hole had reached Chile. These losses are now known to be global in extent and it has been postulated that they may be contributing to global warming in the Southern Hemisphere. 

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