MooPig Tech Successes :: "What ever Happened to the Ozone Hole?"

Chlorine Destroys Ozone
Mashed from sources by Pat Darnell  |  July 21, 2013  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK]

Observers have noticed since 1974 that certain chemicals send our ozone into chaos. Ozone in the upper atmosphere absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. It is a chemical thing. Ozone is a "variant" of oxygen, after all, and susceptible to chemical reaction. In the mid-1980's, ozone awareness was raised in the international consciousness. It was discovered that there was in fact a huge "hole" in the ozone in the layers over the frozen deserts of Antarctica.

What the researchers call “happy time” comes in the afternoon when the tides return and they gather — along with a rotating cadre of graduate students — outside the Winter Palace on an old dock laid out on the lawn to compare notes, gossip and have a snack. "What ever happened to the ozone hole?" they ask.

We Observers then have a larger system to inspect, if we are to find answers elsewhere. One author says the number of possible systems is similar to trying to count every particle of a gas filling a room, "to determine how the particles are distributed." Entropy models proposed are still crude and can not calculate the possibilities in this example. However, even gross observations using entropy detection has produced good results.

Why should we be concerned with a thin, life-sustaining, layer of atmosphere made of rare Oxygen (O3) molecules, anyway? "Intergalactic space lacks both the particles to form us, and the energy to sustain us. It is self-evident that we live in one of the regions that are life friendly. In the multiverse, too, many regions have properties that are incompatible with the existence of observers: They might be entirely empty, or their physical laws preclude any complex structures. (RAPHAEL BOUSSO. October 17, 2008. LINK) ..." And, a central tenet of thermodynamics is the “second law,” which states that a quantity called entropy cannot decrease.

Whatever Happened to the Ozone Hole?: "The ozone layer lies between about 9.3 and 18.6 miles (15 and 30 kilometers) above Earth's surface. This blanket of ozone, or O3, blocks most of the sun's high-frequency ultraviolet rays. These UV rays can cause skin cancer and cataracts in humans, as well as reproductive problems in fish, crabs, frogs, and even in the single-celled phytoplankton at the bottom of the ocean food chain.

Ozone is created naturally when oxygen molecules (O2) high in the atmosphere get broken by sunlight into two free oxygen atoms. A free atom can then bond with an unbroken O2 molecule, and ozone is born." (Brian Handwerk. National Geographic News. Published May 5, 2010. HERE) ... "

For example:

" ... Local ozone reductions approaching 50% in magnitude were observed during the Antarctic spring in the 11–13 and 25–30 km altitude regions over South Pole and McMurdo Stations in 1991. These reductions, at altitudes where depletion has not been observed previously, resulted in a late September total ozone column 10–15% lower than previous years. The added depletion in the lower stratosphere was observed to coincide with penetration into the polar vortex of highly enhanced concentrations of aerosol particles from volcanic activity in 1991. (D. J. Hofmann*, S. J. Oltmans*, J. M. Harris*, S. Solomon†, T. Deshler‡ & B. J. Johnson‡. 24 September 1992. LINK) ... "

"If we had just kept letting CFCs increase at a pretty nominal rate, characteristic of the 1970s, the decreased ozone levels of the hole would have eventually covered the entire planet," said atmospheric physicist Paul Newman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. (Handwerk. May 5, 2010)

'via Blog this'

SUMMARY
Ozone is created naturally when oxygen molecules (O2) high in the atmosphere get broken by sunlight into two free oxygen atoms. A free atom can then bond with an unbroken O2 molecule, and ozone is born.

Ozone is unstable, however, and it's easily broken up by trace elements.

In that rarefied air, ultraviolet light breaks the molecular bonds in CFCs and free chlorine atoms get released. Chlorine then destroys ozone molecules by "stealing" their oxygen atoms.

The disturbing discovery set the stage for an environmental triumph: the Montreal Protocol of 1987.

Now a complete rebound seems imminent. Some scientists project that by 2080 global ozone will return to 1950s levels.

CONCLUSION
No one single person, or entity, has a personal expansive Body Of Knowledge, BOK available to handle all of these issues by one's self: -- like available to an MD, Climate Specialist, Environmental Scientist, Economist, and Editor, and so on -- all wrapped into ONE ???? NOT LIKELY !!

Each specialty attracts persons from that field. That is the beauty of a Project Body Of Knowledge ... right? Like that synergy thing that Bucky Fuller delineated, that the total is greater than the sum of the parts... Although we here at MooPig Enterprises like to think we can handle any information that explodes onto our screens, the Ozone question is a system of a downer being turned upright.



_____________________________Reference
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100505-science-environment-ozone-hole-25-years/
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/?source=NavEnvGlobal
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090414-rockets-ozone.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/090827-laughing-gas-ozone.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html
http://www.nature.com/search/executeSearch?sp-c=25&sp-s=&sp-q-1=NATURE%2CNEWS&sp-q=ozone
http://acdb-ext.gsfc.nasa.gov/People/Newman/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1208_051208_ozone_layer.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100127-ozone-hole-global-warming/
http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/people/k.carslaw
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/11/life-is-about-capturing-particles-and.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2008/12/follow-carbon.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/11/13000-days.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/11/co2-on-notice.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2012/10/moopigs-tech-coroner-carbon-dioxide-co2.html
http://aura.gsfc.nasa.gov/outreach/garden_faq.html
*NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
†NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
‡Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 80271, USA

What's that Smell ?? Whiff of Vacuum ??

Today -- ‘Smell of space’ strong, metallic and unique, say NASA astronauts
September 7th, 2009 [HERE]

Washington, September 7 (ANI): NASA astronauts aboard the US space shuttle Discovery have said that the smell of space, which is regarded as the final frontier, is strong, metallic and unique.

“There is one smell up here that is really unique though and that is the smell, we just call it ‘the smell of space’,” said NASA engineer and astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who is on board US space shuttle Discovery.

“I haven’t had a chance to do a spacewalk yet, but when the other guys did and they came back in, there’s this really, really strong metallic smell,” he added.

For rookie astronaut Kevin Ford, Discovery’s pilot, both the sounds and smells of space have surprised him.

“It’s like something I haven’t ever smelled before, but I’ll never forget it,” he said. “You know how those things stick with you,” he added.

Chamitoff and Ford are among 13 astronauts on board the International Space Station and US space shuttle Discovery.



2009 -- Space Smells Funny, Astronauts Say
By Tariq Malik, Senior Editor
posted: 27 March 2009
[HERE]

Like ozone, or gunpowder

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who launched to the station aboard Discovery and stayed behind when it left to join the outpost's crew, said he also could smell the odd odor that wafted in from outside the station. But both Antonelli and Wakata, who helped Discovery's spacewalkers climb in and out of their spacesuits, could not put words to the distinctive out-of-this-world scent.

Former NASA astronaut Thomas Jones, a veteran of three spacewalks before retiring from spaceflying in 2001, thinks the odor could stem from atomic oxygen that clings to spacesuit fabric.

"When you repressurize the airlock and get out of your suit, there is a distinct odor of ozone, a faint acrid smell," Jones told SPACE.com, adding that the smell is also similar to burnt gunpowder or the ozone smell of electrical equipment. "It's not noticeable inside the suit. The suit smells like plastic inside."

The smell, he adds, only occurs on a shuttle or the space station after a spacewalk and is unmistakable to astronauts working with the spacesuits and equipment that was used in the vacuum of space.

"In those tight spaces, your nose gets right next to the fabric," Jones said. "I like to think of it as getting a whiff of vacuum!"

2002 -- Spacewalkers describe smoky, bitter 'smell of space'
Friday, November 8, 2002
[Article HERE]
WHITSON: Flying in space here is phenomenal. It's amazing just to feel your body adapt to floating around in zero (gravity). But it was really, truly amazing to me to do a spacewalk, especially at the end of the (station's robotic arm) as Valery was swinging me around.

I really just feel like what a bird must feel like flying. I felt out there alone, and it was just so beautiful watching the Earth go by.

O'BRIEN: You didn't get that sensation of falling that some people have reported?

WHITSON: No, not at all. In fact, everybody told me that I was giggling. So they realized that I was having a good time.

O'BRIEN: One of the things I've never heard anyone describe was the smell of space. And this is in reference to when you (Whitson) brought in your suit from a spacewalk and (it) had a very distinct smell. I mean, we're talking about the vacuum of space, and yet it has an odor. Describe it for us.

WHITSON: Some people call it kind of ozone-like. I wasn't sure what ozone was supposed to smell like, but it's kind of smoky and a little harsh, bitter-smelling. And it lasts variable amounts of time. I noticed that it didn't last as long in the docking compartment after we had done three (spacwalks) out of the air lock here. But it's really interesting because it's very distinctive.

O'BRIEN: I don't think a lot of people know what ozone smells like. Is there another way to describe it? You described it in a letter (on a NASA Web site) as almost a burn smell. It's just very interesting, I think, to those of us down on Earth.

WHITSON: Korzun said it's kind of like a smell from a gun, right after you fire the shot. I think it kind of has almost a bitter kind of smell in addition to being smoky and burned.

1977
Lynyrd Skynyrd, What's that Smell
Allen Collins - Ronnie VanZant
Whiskey bottles, and brand new cars
Oak tree you're in my way
There's too much coke and too much smoke
Look what's going on inside you
Ooooh that smell
Can't you smell that smell
Ooooh that smell
The smell of death surrounds you

Angel of darkness is upon you
Stuck a needle in your arm
So take another toke, have a blow for your nose
One more drink fool, will drown you


Now they call you Prince Charming
Can't speak a word when you're full of 'ludes
Say you'll be all right come tomorrow
But tomorrow might not be here for you

Hey, you're a fool you
Stick them needles in your arm
I know I been there before

One little problem that confronts you
Got a monkey on your back
Just one more fix, Lord might do the trick
One hell of a price for you to get your kicks