Ozone Depletion - The Evidence is Thin By. Robert W. Lee Taken From: The New American Magazine Special Report: "The Resilient Earth" June 1st, 1992 On February 3, 1992, based on "preliminary findings," the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a press release warning that it had detected large quantities of chlorine monoxide (CIO) over eastern Canada and northern New England. NASA described CIO as "the key agent responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion" and suggested that increased levels might lead, at some future date, to formation of a so-called ozone "hole" over the Arctic similar to the one that forms annually over the Antarctic. The major media covered NASA's release in a sensationalistic way, creating the impression that the ozone layer was rapidly vanishing. On January 20th, a NASA aircraft had measured a CIO concentration of 1.5 parts per billion (ppb), an amount "higher than any observed during previous aircraft campaigns...." Rates of atmospheric chlorine fluctuate wildly throughout the year. By the end of February, NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) discovered that the CIO concentration had dropped to under one ppb. Then on April 30th, NASA sheepishly announced that more data had established that the Northern Hemisphere had escaped a health threatening ozone "hole" this year. NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientist Joe Waters claimed, though, that the "hole" would have occurred if only the Arctic region had been colder than it was. And so it goes. A Renewable Resource Almost lost in all of the hype about ozone "depletion" is the fact that it is naturally created as well as destroyed. Even Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary explains that ozone "is formed naturally in the upper atmosphere by a photochemical reaction with ultraviolet solar radiation." The process is explained in further detail by aerospace scientist Michael J. Dunn in a letter to Insight magazine for April 27, 1992. According to Dunn, who holds masters degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Washington, "ordinary oxygen [O2] ... is an opaque filter for UV [ultraviolet radiation] of wavelengths shorter than 185 nanometers (nm). The nature of this filtering process is that an oxygen molecule absorbs far-UV radiation and splits apart into oxygen atoms [O1], whereupon these fragments combine with normal oxygen molecules to form ozone molecules [03]. Ozone then filters UV radiation in the band from 290 nm to 185 nm, the middle-UV region which is far less dangerous than the UV already filtered by oxygen, and only marginally more severe than the UV that reaches the Earth's surface without any filtering (400 to 290 nm).... [O]zone is naturally unstable and eventually converts back into normal oxygen." In other words, Dunn continues, "So long as we have oxygen in the air, we are automatically shielded from the worst UV radiation-through the ozone-production process." The ozone layer is situated some 9 to 25 miles above the earth's surface. Writing in Reason magazine for June 1992, author Ronald Bailey notes that if "all the ozone in the stratosphere were compressed to surface air pressures, it would make up a layer only one-eighth of an inch thick." Reference to an ozone "hole" is misleading, as there can never be any such thing. The amount of ozone in the stratosphere thins and thickens depending on a multitude of physical and chemical factors. One factor is solar activity. As far back as September 8, 1984, researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research announced that satellite measurements had found that the sun's ultraviolet radiation affects the concentration of atmospheric ozone, and that the changes may have inflated estimates of human damage to the ozone layer. The satellite data showed a variation every 13 1/2 days of .25 percent to .60 percent in the stratosphere's ozone content. Such variations corresponded to changes in ultraviolet emissions from the sun. As summarized by the Associated Press, by "correlating the sun's ultraviolet output with ozone concentrations and using models of the sun's activity, scientists found the ozone concentration at the top of the stratosphere may vary by 12 percent during the solar cycle." "Threat" from CFCs In 1974, California scientists F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina claimed to find a link between ozone depletion and CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) compounds. CFCs are used as coolants in refrigerators and air conditioners, as propellants in aerosol spray cans, and in foam insulation and solvents. Their gas molecules are extremely stable, and Rowland and Molina theorized that they were drifting into the stratosphere and being broken down by solar energy, thereby releasing their highly reactive chlorine atoms. Tn turn, according to the theory, the chlorine began working to "destroy" ozone molecules. Environmentalists latched onto the issue and in 1978 the U.S. became the first nation to ban CFCs from spray cans. Yet, as atmospheric physicist Dr. S. Fred Singer and colleague Candace C. Crandall noted in Consumer's Research for July 1987, the Rowland-Molina theory "has yet to be verified in detail because the mathematical model involves more than 100 chemical reactions." In recent years, the most highly-publicized phenomenon employed to bolster the claim that man-made CFCs threaten the ozone layer has been the Antarctic ozone "hole." Yet this "hole" is apparently a naturally occurring phenomenon. Writing in the April 12, 1992 issue of the Washington Times, Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, noted that the so-called ozone "hole" was discovered in 1956 by Cambridge meteorologist Gordon Dobson, who devised the instrumentation and techniques of measuring stratospheric ozone. He considered the Antarctic ozone thinning to be an anomaly until the phenomenon occurred again the following year, at which time he reported it as a natural annual event. Two French investigators also measured the "hole" in 1958 when it was thinner than at any time since. The amount of ozone in the atmosphere is measured in "Dobson" units. The global ozone average is now about 300 Dobson units. Gordon Dobson measured only 150 Dobson units in 1956 and 1957. And the two Frenchmen gauged a mere 120 Dobson units in 1958. For comparison, Insight Magazine for April 6, 1992, in discussing NASA's recent frenzy about a possible Northern Hemisphere ozone "hole", reported that "Arlin Krueger, a senior NASA research scientist who monitors global ozone levels, says that in NASA's March 10 satellite ozone map, the lowest levels he could find over the Northern Hemisphere were 275-300 Dobson units." Krueger told Reason magazine's Ronald Bailey that ozone levels over the U.S. fluctuate naturally by as much as 50 percent. "Hole" Hysteria Annual reports about ozone depletion in the Antarctic have served to fuel ozone "hole" hysteria since 1985. The "hole" is evident during September and October, lasts for a few weeks, then disappears by late November or December. There is no reliable way to calculate and compare what has happened since 1985 to what happened before then, or to make future projections, based on data spanning a mere seven years. And environmentalists have yet to explain why, if most CFCs and other chemicals are used in the industrialized countries of the Northern Hemisphere, the largest ozone "hole" appears on the other side of the globe. The Antarctic "hole" worsened slightly in 1986, and again in 1987, then improved in 1988, then worsened slightly in 1989, and again in 1990, before falling last year to less than the 1989 level. This apparently natural ebb-and-flow has been irresponsibly distorted by politicians, environmental extremists, and the major media to imply that a significant ozone depletion by man-made CFCs is underway. In his letter to Insight cited earlier, aerospace scientist Michael J. Dunn noted that the process by which ozone is created accounts for this ebb-and-flow. "When a polar region is in 'winter,' it is (by definition) tipped away from the sun for a night that lasts nearly six months," he explains. "In the absence of sunlight, no new ozone is produced in the upper atmosphere, during which time the ozone already present is converting back into oxygen...." If ozone really were declining globally, then this depletion should be accompanied by an increase in ultraviolet light reaching the earth's surface. But there is no evidence of such an increase. Indeed, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist John Delouisi asserts that readings from meters at eight different stations located throughout mainland United States have shown "an average surface ultraviolet radiation trend of minus 8 percent from 1974 to 1985." Another NOAA scientist, Shaw Liu, notes that UV radiation in the Northern Hemisphere's rural midlatitude, which includes the United States, has declined by between 5 percent and 18 percent during this century. He attributes the diminished UV to an increase in clouds and the low-level haze resulting from industrial activities. (Sulphur dioxide from burning coal brightens clouds and makes them more reflective of sunlight, carbon dioxide augments cloud formation, etc.) University of Virginia meteorologist Dr. Patrick Michaels speculates that if we ever succeed in eliminating the haze, in the name of fighting pollution, "the increase in skin cancer would far outweigh anything caused by what we may have done to the midlatitude stratosphere." Cancer Scare The Environmental Protection Agency has made the incredible claim that an estimated 12 million American's will develop skin cancer, and 200,000 will die, due to ozone thinning. This despite the evidence that surface-level UV radiation is decreasing, and the fact that skin cancers of the type associated with UV radiation are seldom fatal unless neglected for many years. Skin cancers of the type caused by UV radiation are largely associated with geographic latitude. For example, incidence of the disease is 150 percent more prevalent in El Paso, Texas than in Minnesota. Length of exposure to the sun is also a key factor (persons in warmer climates closer to the equator tend to wear less clothing). But the incidence of the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma, which has increased by more than tenfold since 1935, correlates poorly with latitude. It occurs roughly as often in high latitudes as in low and is difficult to induce in animals by UV radiation. Melanoma often appears on parts of the skin that are not usually unduly exposed to sunlight (soles of the feet, buttocks, etc.). Its incidence is unrelated to the time spent sunbathing, which is not what one would expect if such cancers are being caused by increasing UV rays due to ozone depletion. Put simply, the thickness of the ozone layer has nothing to do with melanoma. If chlorine is indeed "polluting" the ozone layer, from whence could it be coming other than from man-made CFCs? Nature, it appears, is contributing more than her share. Scientists estimate that each year volcanoes pump around 12 million tons of hydrochloric acid into the atmosphere, to which must be added the salt (sodium chloride) from ocean spray that diffuses upwards in storms, hurricanes, and typhoons. Writing in the Washington Times for February 8, 1992, Kent Jeffreys, director of Environmental Studies for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, recalls, "After the 1982 eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico, ozone thinned by as much as 20 percent where the volcanic cloud mixed with the lower reaches of the ozone layer". Last June, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines blasted "perhaps 30 million tons of material into the stratosphere. At the time, everyone recognized that the effect would be similar to El Chichon, but on a much greater scale. Yet, only a few months after Pinatubo's eruptions, NASA's experts profess to be shockcd by their 'discovery' of high chlorine levels in the stratosphere." ---- The special report, "The Resilient Earth", is a compilation of articles for The New American magazine. Here is the table of contents from this important issue: NATURAL POLLUTANTS: p4 Man's contributions to environmental "pollution" pale in comparison to those of nature itself (June 1st) GLOBAL WARMING: p5-7 The theory of global warming is nothing more than hot air (June 1st) A group of atmospheric scientists warn that "highly uncertain scientific theories" are being advanced by "environmental activist groups and certain political leaders" (June 1st) CARBON DIOXIDE: p8 An abundance of CO2 in the atmosphere is not a threat but a great benefit to the earth (June 1st) OZONE DEPLETION: p9 The hysteria over "holes" in the earth's ozone layer is founded on spurious scientific theory (June 1st) DEFORESTATION: p11-12 Forests which are harvested and reseeded do much better than federally preserved woodlands (June 1st) One of the world's leading authorities on the Amazon counters environmentalists' outrageous claims about that massive jungle's deforestation (August 1 10th) BIODIVERSITY: p14 The Earth Summit's Biodiversity Treaty represents another of government's ham-handed attempts to save the environment (July 27th) OVERPOPULATION: p16 The problems related to overpopulation are not caused by a lack of resources (June 1st) ACID RAIN: p17 A ten-year federal study found that "acid rain" is not destroying our forests, lakes, and wildlife (June 1st) NUCLEAR POWER p18 Nuclear power is by far the safest, cheapest, and most efficient source for electricity (June 1st) IN LIGHT OF THE PAST: p19 Environmental doomsayers have been warning about impending catastrophe for a long time now (August 24th) REGULATORY PRICE TAG: p20 The astronomical cost of environmental regulations is impeding economic progress (June 1st) THE EPA: p21-22 The Environmental Protection Agency is your worst bureaucratic nightmare come true (June 1st) Time after time, the EPA has used flawed research as the basis for its harmful regulations (June 1st) WASTE MANAGEMENT: p24-25 The federal Superfund amounts to legalized fraud (June 1st) Environmentalist myths about garbage are legion- and costly (June 1st) AIR AND WATER: p26 The federal government regulates even the air we breathe and the water we drink (June 1st) LANDGRAB: p28-30 The federal government already owns over one-third of the land in the United States but wants even more (June 1st) Hungarian immigrant John Pozsgai went to jail for the despicable crime of improving his land (June 1st) THE GREEN REGIME: p31-34 The environmentalist agenda is anti-people, anti- development, and anti-freedom (June 1st) The radical environmentalist philosophy contradicts Judeo-Christian values (June 15th) The modern-day environmental "movement" is the creature of the Establishment (June 1st) EDUCATION: p36-37 Environmental groups are enlisting thousands of young people into their militant campaign (July 13th) The "environmentalist education" movement is a recruitment drive intended to conscript students into a pagan children's crusade (July 27th) EARTH SUMMIT: p41-53 Powerful Insiders are using environmental "crises" as pretexts for global control (June 1st) The Earth Summit has little to do with saving the earth, but much to do with shackling it (July 13th) The presence of the Socialist International winds its way throughout the entire history of environmental activism from Stockholm to Rio (August 10th) If Senator Al Gore has his way, the road from Rio will lead directly toward a socialistic global government (July 27th) EARTH SUMMIT ALTERNATIVES: p55-57 While "greenies" promoted global environmentalism at the Earth Summit, a hardy group of individualists was also meeting in Rio to offer freedom alternatives (July 27th) During the meetings in Rio de Janeiro, a different kind of environmental conference convened in Reno, Nevada (July 13th) FREE ENTERPRISE: p59-60 The best ecological decisions are made on the basis of the voluntary choice of individuals (June 1st) More freedom means better stewardship of the environment, more socialism the opposite (June 1st) ---- Copies of the entire special report of The New American magazine, entitled "The Resilient Earth", are available from: The New American P.O. 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