Compares the science, causes & impacts of climate change & ozone depletion. What made ozone depletion a much easier problem to address than climate disruption?

1. Too Big To Fail?
Ozone Depletion & Climate Change
Different but Related Atmospheric Problems

4. Ozone
is
a
form
of
oxygen.
Most
oxygen
is
made
up
of
2
oxygen
atoms
(O2),
but
ozone
is
made
of
3
oxygen
atoms
(O3).

5. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a form of
energy that comes from the Sun.
There are a number of different forms of UV
energy that are named according to their
wavelength. The shorter the wavelength, the
more energetic the radiation is, & hence the
more damaging it can be if it reaches the Earth.
UV–A Radiation is the least damaging & it
reaches the Earth in large amounts. Most UV–A
rays pass right through the ozone layer in the
stratosphere.
UV–B Radiation can be very harmful.
Fortunately, most UV–B radiation is filtered out
by the ozone layer.
UV–C Radiation is the most harmful, but
fortunately it is all filtered out by ozone &
oxygen in the stratosphere (upper
atmosphere), & so never reaches the Earth’s
surface.

8. *

14. September 2000

16. Increased UV-B Radiation’s Impact

18.  UV-­‐B
radia@on
has
already
reduced
plankton
popula@ons
around
the
poles
by
about
12%.
 As
plankton
make
up
the
base
of
the
marine
food
chain,
changes
in
their
number
influence
fish
&
shellfish
produc@on
world-­‐
wide.
These
kinds
of
losses
will
have
a
direct
impact
on
world
food
supplies.

22. It
Will
Slowly
Reduce
All
ODSs
in
the
Atmosphere

25. Es@mates
of
Skin
Cancer
Reduc@ons
Related
to
Achievements
of
the
Montreal
Protocol
&
Copenhagen
Amendments
in
Protec@ng
the
Ozone
Layer

27. Primary
suppliers
of
CFCs
are
Russia
(which
oXen
violated
the
Montreal
Protocol),
as
well
as
China
&
India
(who
were
allowed
to
produce
CFCs
legally
un@l
2010).
•
CFCs
can
easily
be
smuggled
from
those
countries
into
Europe,
which
has
lax
legisla@on
on
imports
&
smuggling.
In
the
US,
much
of
the
smuggled
CFCs
comes
from
Europe,
aXer
being
smuggled
from
one
of
the
other
na@ons.
CFC Production (by Tons) 1996

29. HFCs & HCFCs (the CFC alternatives) are still greenhouse gasses.

35. Carbon Emissions
1850-2000
CO2 in the Atmosphere
1960-1990

38.  Polar, Greenland & glacial ice melt;
loss of snow pack.
 Sea level rise, flooding & mass
migrations, disappearance of islands.
If the Greenland Ice Sheet
melts, the impacts will be
enormous. Red areas in this
image of southern Florida
show locales susceptible to
a five meter rise of sea
level. Yellow areas denote
urban locations.

43. Lower Emissions Higher Emissions

54. Historic
CO2
Contributors
of
the
20th
Century