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Ozone Report 1
Rough weather worlwide ahead!!Expect dramatic increase in storms
Recently reports of the Ozone are becoming more alarming as scientists are beginning to realize that the condition is worsening at a far more rapid rate than was originally thought. This is due to the period doubling effect. If you lose 15 % in one year you are down that amount and when it begins to decline and the chemical content rises then you have a very rapid decline. An example of the period doubling effect is as follows: 2,4,8,16,32,64,128 and so one. The exponential curve increases as you progress further into it. At the moment even to stay in the sun for longer than 20 minutes in summer in the areas of Australia south and from Houston North is to expect to be burnt. Sunscreen of at least 20+ or higher is recommended as well as a reliable hat and also shirts. The last report showed the Ozone hole over the Northern hemisphere to be expanding to as far south as Spain. The further South you travel the thicker the Ozone is. In the South expect the whole of Australia to be affected the further north you travel the thicker the ozone is.
What Is Ozone And How Is It Formed?
Ozone (O3 : 3 oxygen atoms) occurs naturally in the atmosphere.
The earth's atmosphere is composed of several layers. We live in the "Troposphere" where most of the weather occurs; such as rain, snow and clouds. Above the troposphere is the "Stratosphere"; an important region in which effects such as the Ozone Hole and Global Warming originate. Supersonic jet airliners such as Concorde fly in the lower stratosphere whereas subsonic commercial airliners are usually in the troposphere. The narrow region between these two parts of the atmosphere is called the "Tropopause".
Ozone forms a layer in the stratosphere, thinnest in the tropics (around the equator) and denser towards the poles. The amount of ozone above a point on the earth's surface is measured in Dobson units (DU) - typically ~260 DU near the tropics and higher elsewhere, though there are large seasonal fluctuations. It is created when ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) strikes the stratosphere, dissociating (or "splitting") oxygen molecules (O2) to atomic oxygen (O). The atomic oxygen quickly combines with further oxygen molecules to form ozone:
O2 + hv -> O + O (1) O + O2 -> O3 (2)
(1/v = wavelength < ~ 240 nm)
- It's ironic that at ground level, ozone is a health hazard - it is a major constituent of photochemical smog. However, in the stratosphere we could not survive without it. Up in the stratosphere it absorbs some of the potentially harmful ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the sun (at wavelengths between 240 and 320 nm) which can cause skin cancer and damage vegetation, among other things
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