The_Weather_Vane

A Blue Sky

Hope

A Blue Sky, the pic above was taken by me leaving work yesterday, I saw the upper level clouds which are triggered by cooler temperatures.  I pulled over and got out the camera, set it on the tripod to take a few shots.

Later that night I read a scary article online from Rebecca Boyle of Popular Science, the article painted a picture of our immediate future.  Apparently there is not just one large hole in the ozone layer in the Antarctic.  What I read now is that there is another hole in the ozone layer but this is in the Arctic, which can affect our region to the north.  After reading this article, I transferred this photo to edit it on my computer, looking at this crisp blue sky made me think about how we have allowed our progress and industry to nearly destroy this great greenhouse of a planet we all live on.  I had just read a few weeks before that the sea ice has been dwindling in the north seas.   This now makes sense, with a second hole in the ozone layer, this allows for more harmful rays from the sun to penatrate our atmosphere and cause the ice to melt at an accelerated rate.

This also means that we really should not sunbathe at all, UV or Ultraviolet rays are reaching higher levels which will cause skin damage.  At this point it means that sunscreen would not help that much to protect us from skin cancer. 

That article from Popular Science mentions that the holes in the ozone are triggered by "chemical reactions involving chlorine.  In cold air and sunlight, chlorine is converted into compounds that break down ozone."

Yes climate change has even affected the air currents in the upper atmosphere which is affecting the destruction of the ozone layer.  Ozone at ground level is a toxic gas, however it is absolutely necessary to exist in the upper atmosphere to filter out the type of rays from our sun that can cause harm to plants, animals and even to us.

Hope, yes there is some, we have already started to take action to slow down climate change.  The federal government has imposed strict laws to control and reduce factories to reduce pollution.  More advanced emission control in modern cars has helped a bit as well.  We just need all the countries in the world to work together and make vital investment to reduce pollution and to plant trees.

Please visit to read the original article from Popular Science : New Ozone hole over the Arctic

Here is information about the ice in the Arctic :  http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/