Skin Treatment needed to offset damage from Ozone depletion, aggravated by Global Warming.

The Hole in the Ozone Layer

Reducing our carbon footprints and co2 emissions are hot news these days. The hole in the Ozone Layer was in the news long before climate change and global warming became the tags applied to our collective worries about the harm mankind was doing to the atmosphere.

The Ozone Layer absorbs between 97% and 99% of the Sun's high frequency ultra-violet light, UV, which is linked to increases in the frequency of skin cancer.

The influence of global warming and climate change upon the Ozone layer, is only recently becoming clearer.

Stratospheric winds: every 26 months the tropical winds in the lower stratosphere change from easterly to westerly and then back again, an event called the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO). The QBO causes ozone values at a particular latitude to expand and contract roughly 3%. Since stratospheric winds move ozone, not destroy it, the loss of one latitude is the gain of another and globally the effects cancel out.


Greenhouse gases: to the degree that greenhouse gases might heat the planet and alter weather patterns, the magnitude of the stratospheric winds will certainly be affected. Some of the more popular scenarios of global warming predict cooler stratospheric temperatures, but more research needs to be done to vindicate these predictions.

Ozone gas is created by UV radiation from the Sun and fluctuates according to an 11 year cycle. High solar activity is linked to an increase in ozone, but man-made chemicals, such as CFC's, as well as chlorine and bromine, destroy Ozone through a photo-chemical process, leading to less UV light being absorbed and potentially increased resultant temperatures.

Ozone depletion can be significantly reduced by a major limitation to CFC production. Health care costs of skin treatments necessary due to UV damage will be cut and much suffering alleviated.

Identifying and acting upon problems that have achievable solutions, from an economic and life quality viewpoint, are key to success. It is hard to sell the current generation unpalatable lifestyles or economic hardships simply for the benefit of "future generations". The perils of global warming and climate change must become personalised, with people claiming ownership to creating a bright future for their own offspring, at the forefront.