Ozone Depletion The Greenhouse Effect And Climate Change

Ozone depletion in the stratosphere and increases in greenhouse gases in the troposphere are both subjects of growing concernâ€"even alarmâ€"among scientists, policymakers, and the public. At the same time, recent data show that these atmospheric developments are interconnected and in turn profoundly affect climatic conditions. This volume presents the most up-to-date data and theories available on ozone depletion, greenhouse gases, and climatic change. These questions and more are addressed: What is the current understanding of the processes that destroy ozone in the atmosphere? What role do greenhouse gases play in ozone depletion?

A balanced assessment based on currently available scientific knowledge of the effects that climate change may have on the environment in Europe and the health of its populations. Written in non-technical language the book responds to growing public and political concern about the consequences of such widely publicized phenomena as global warming and stratospheric ozone depletion. The book also responds to evidence that recent warming trends in Europe have already affected health. The book opens with a brief explanation of the causes of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion followed by an overview of recent European and global initiatives aimed at monitoring trends and assessing their impact on health. The first main chapter on climate change in Europe summarizes currently documented trends and provides a scenario of possible changes throughout the rest of this century. The second and most extensive chapter reviews scientific evidence on specific health consequences. These include effects related to increased episodes of thermal stress and air pollution; changes in foodborne water-related vector-borne and rodent-borne diseases; mortality from floods and other weather extremes; and changes in the production of aeroallergens associated with respiratory disorders including asthma. Chapter three considers health effects linked to stratospheric ozone depletion giving particular attention to adverse effects on the eye and immune system and skin cancer. The remaining chapters discuss health effects expected in the next decade and outline actions urgently needed in the areas of policy monitoring and surveillance and research.

Addresses two major environmental issues associated with the earth1s atmosphere: global warming and the depletion of the atmosphere1s ozone layer. Begins with an assessment of how the atmosphere naturally influences the earth1s climate and how that climate has behaved in the past. It also deals with the potential depletion of the upper atmosphere1s protective ozone layer. The final chapter considers the linkages between these two issues, other atmospheric pollution problems, and human behavior, and examines what is being done and must be done to respond, both nationally and internationally. 40 charts, maps and tables. Emphasis on Canada.

Humankind has dramatically altered the composition of the atmosphere during the past 150 years, chiefly by increasing the concentrations of naturally occurring greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and, in the last half century, by introducing new ones. Excessive amounts of greenhouse gases trap heat, which the earth would normally radiate back to space, thereby affecting the energy-storage capacity of the atmosphere and oceans. In recent decades the ozone layer has been severely damaged by man-made chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Though their use is now prohibited, they will remain in the atmosphere for many decades and, with their effects exacerbated by global warming, will continue to destroy ozone for many years to come. The greatest concern for our well-being during the next millennium is that a modified climate now seems inevitable. How much can we afford to let it change? This highly accessible book introduces and explains the processes causing these interrelated environmental crises, examines the measures currently being formulated to tackle them, and considers how effective such measures are likely to be.

This monograph reviews the establishment of new theories of the ozone hole and global climate change, two major scientific problems of global concern. It provides a comprehensive overview of the author's work including significant discoveries and pioneering contributions, such as the discovery of extremely effective dissociative electron transfer reactions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) adsorbed on ice surfaces and its implications for atmospheric ozone depletion; the proposal of the cosmic-ray-driven electron-induced-reaction (CRE) theory for the ozone hole; the predictions of 11-year cyclic variations in polar ozone loss and stratospheric cooling; the discovery of the nearly perfect linear correlation between CFCs and global surface temperature; the proposal of the CFC theory for modern global warming; the discovery of greenhouse-gas-specific climate sensitivity and the parameter-free calculation of global surface temperature change caused by CFCs; the prediction of global cooling; and so on. Unlike conventional atmospheric and climate models, the author's theoretical models were established on robust observed data rather than computer simulations with multiple parameters. The new theories have shown the best agreements with the observed data within 10% uncertainties. This book highlights the scientific understandings of the world-concerned problems from the unique point of view of a physicist who seeks theories with great simplicity and superior predictive capacity. This book is self-contained and unified in presentation. It may be used as an advanced book by graduate students and even ambitious undergraduates in physics, chemistry, environmental and climate sciences. It is also suitable for non-expert readers and policy makers who wish to have an overview of the sciences behind atmospheric ozone depletion and global climate change. Contents:Basic Physics and Chemistry of the Earth's AtmosphereInteractions of Electrons with Atmospheric MoleculesConventional Understanding of Ozone DepletionThe Cosmic-Ray-Driven Theory of the Ozone Hole: Laboratory ObservationsThe Cosmic-Ray-Driven Theory of the Ozone Hole: Atmospheric ObservationsConventional Understanding of Climate ChangeNatural Drivers of Climate ChangeNew Theory of Global Climate ChangeImpacts on Science, Policy and Economics Readership: Graduate students in climate science, non-experts and policy makers who wish to have an overview of the sciences behind ozone depletion and global climate change. Key Features:Provides unique scientific understandings of the world-concerned problems from a physicist of penetrating thought and great intuitionDescribes the author's new theories that have great simplicity and superior predictive capacity with no complex mathematical equations and parametersPresents the author's predictions that have shown excellent agreements with observed dataKeywords:Global Warming;Global Cooling;Global Climate Change;Ozone Hole;Ozone Depletion;CFCs;Greenhouse Effect;Dissociative Electron Transfer Reactions;Ice Surface;Atmospheric Physics

Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Air Resources Information Clearinghouse ARIC, a project of the Center for Environmental Information, Inc.