– Ozone Layer Recovery
Vast reservoirs of ozone-destroying chemicals in the atmosphere
may be delaying the expected recovery of Earth’s protective layer
of ozone in the stratosphere.
By Steve Newman
Ozone Layer Recovery
Vast reservoirs of ozone-destroying chemicals in the atmosphere may be delaying the expected recovery of Earth’s protective layer of ozone in the stratosphere. Researchers told a gathering of the American Geophysical Union that the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole may not occur until 2065 because of lingering chlorofluorocarbon gases, despite a global ban on their production. Atmospheric scientists had expected a recovery to levels of the 1980s by about 2050 following the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which banned production of the chemicals. But that agreement did not bar the use of existing stockpiles, and researchers believe they are still causing ozone destruction.
Tropical Cyclones
Heavy rains from Cyclone Baaz unleashed flooding that killed at least 15 people and forced the evacuation of 300,000 others in India’s southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Weak Cyclone Fanoos was approaching northern Sri Lanka and far southern India from the Bay of Bengal late in the week.
Record-breaking and late-season Hurricane Epsilon threatened shipping lanes in the central North Atlantic.
Bird Flu Update
A massive number of poultry died suddenly in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, where the deadly H5 strain of avian influenza was detected.
Indonesia confirmed its eighth human fatality due to bird flu. Sixty-nine out of the 133 people known to be infected worldwide have died.
Rising Tide Migrations
Rising sea levels have forced 100 people on a Pacific island to move to higher ground in what may be the first example of a community being displaced due to modern global warming, a U.N. report says. Inhabitants of Lateu, on the Vanuatu island of Tegua, have dismantled their wooden homes and moved inland because surging tides have made their village uninhabitable four or five times a year. Off Papua New Guinea, about 2,000 people in the Cantaret Islands are planning to move to nearby Bougainville Island due to the rising ocean.
Tehran Smog
Residents of the smog-choked Iranian capital of Tehran were told to take a two-day holiday from work and school in an unprecedented effort to reduce atmospheric pollution. Nearly calm winds and a temperature inversion had allowed a blanket of yellow-brown smog to form over the metropolitan area. Many residents in downtown Tehran wore masks to protect themselves from the severe pollution, which is caused mainly by the availability of cheap, subsidized fuel used in a fleet of old cars that do not have emission controls.
Eruptions
Authorities in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu evacuated thousands of villagers from homes near an erupting volcano on the island of Ambae. Shortly afterward, the volcano shot steam and toxic gases 10,000 feet into the sky. Seismologists had reported a steady increase in activity from Mount Manaro since it began spewing ash and smoke on Nov. 27.
Karthala Volcano in the Indian Ocean Comoros archipelago produced more lava flows. Earlier activity contaminated the drinking water of 250,000 people in 76 villages.
A 40-acre stretch of volcanic coastline in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park collapsed, revealing a spectacular geyser of lava. The molten rock spurted from a lava tube that was ripped open by the collapse.
Earthquakes
Several people were killed in East Africa’s Lake Tanganyika region when their mud-and-thatch huts collapsed during a powerful magnitude 6.8 temblor. The seismic slip along the Great Rift Valley was felt in several countries and caused buildings to sway 600 miles away in Nairobi, Kenya.
Earth movements were also felt in western Iran, northwest Sumatra, northern Thailand, northeast Papua New Guinea and in southern and northeastern parts of Japan.
‘Drunken’ Wasps
Officials in Australia’s western Victoria state have hired an expert to investigate a local phenomenon of “drunken” wasps. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports the Northern Grampians shire council says it has observed European wasps flying in circles in what appears to be a disorientated state before dropping dead. Spokesman Ian Nicholson told the network he believes the behavior could be due to a chemical reaction in the pollen. He has asked researchers from Deakin University to determine if a bait could be developed from the reaction to kill off all of the wasps.
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