Scientists say a hole in the Arctic’s protective ozone layer last winter was the largest ever recorded, reaching an extent typically observed above Antarctica.

While so-called ozone “holes” have occurred each summer since the mid-1980s over Antarctica — where extreme cold and powerful wind patterns trigger reactions that convert chlorine from human-produced chemicals into ozone-destroying compunds — warmer stratospheric temperatures in the Arctic have typically limited ozone loss.

According to a new study, published in the journal Nature, unusually low stratospheric temperatures and powerful high-altitude wind patterns above the Arctic earlier this year created the conditions for an unprecedented ozone hole over northern Russia and parts of Norway and Greenland, exposing populations across the region to high levels of ultraviolet radiation.

“Arctic ozone loss events such as those observed this year could become more frequent if winter Arctic stratospheric temperatures decrease in future as the Earth’s climate changes,” said Kaley Walker, a University of Toronto physicist who participated in the study.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

photo: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Related posts:

• Closing Hole in Ozone Layer to Increase Global Warming?
• U.S. to Suspend Arctic Drilling: Alaska Senator
• Ozone Pollution From Asia Blown to North America
• Green Coalition Files Lawsuit Over U.S. Arctic Drilling Approval
• Short Term Air Emissions and Their Effect on Global Warming

A series of pole-to-pole research flights conducted by U.S. researchers have provided the most comprehensive picture of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and confirmed some of climate scientists’ more dire concerns about human-caused global warming.

Using sophisticated instruments capable of detecting a wide range of atmospheric components, scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research found evidence that the melting of Arctic ice is leading to significant releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, and that the releases could have significant impact on the climate.

Data collected during the mission, known as HIPPO, also suggests that black carbon particles — released by diesel engines, industrial activities, and fires — are more widely distributed than previously known, particularly in large plumes that travel from Asia, over the central Pacific Ocean, and onto the U.S. West Coast.

“Levels were comparable with those measured in megacities such as Houston or Los Angeles,” said Ryan Spackman, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a member of the research team.

photo: r.rosenberger

Related posts:

• New U.S. Satellite to Monitor Global Climate Change
• Wind Energy Beyond Wind Turbines
• Crop Performance and Green House Gas Emissions
• Biofuels Takes Off on Commercial Flights
• Lufthansa: Biofuels Could Be Aviation’s Standard in Five Years

A Russian company has announced that it will build the world’s first floating nuclear plant, opening up the possibility that the Russians could use such reactors to power operations to extract oil and minerals in remote regions of the Arctic.

Russia’s United Industrial Corporation said its floating reactor will go into operation in 2012 off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East and will be used to help power Vilyuchinsk, a small city that serves as an atomic submarine base. The 472-foot plant will be built in the shape of a ship, will accommodate two 35-megawatt reactors, and will cost $316 million to construct, United Industrial said.

Nuclear power experts said that such floating reactors could be used to supply power to extractive industries in the Arctic as sea ice melts and Russia moves in to exploit oil, natural gas, and minerals. But putting reactors at sea, particularly in such an environmentally sensitive area as the Arctic, raises concerns about safety in extreme weather, disposal of radioactive waste produced by the reactors, and vulnerability to terrorism.

This article originally appeared on Yale Environment 360 at http://e360.yale.edu

[photo credit: flickr]

Related posts:

• Nuclear Power Debate: 350 Movers, Pragmatic Greens & Fearful Opponents
• War Against Climate Change: There Will Be Some Collateral Damage
• Support for Nuclear Power Drops Sharply in the U.S., Poll Says
• Russia Decides to Take a Step Forward with Biofuels
• New Nuclear Reactors