Scientists record reduction in ozone depletion-level

There is a reason to cheer on the International Ozone Day. The scientists have recorded a perceptible reduction in the ozone depletion levels in the atmosphere.It is generally believed that the preventive measures taken by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by cutting down the CFCs emission have had its effect on the atmosphere. "The ozone-level variation may not have much to do with the CFCs but with factors like El Nino, sea surface changes, cyclones and temperatures which were varying in the 70s when the ozone-level changes were first detected," says Prof K Mohan Kumar, Dean, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology.Mohan Kumar presented a paper on these findings at the just-concluded 'Stratospheric Processes And their Role in Climate' (SPARC), 4th General Assembly, organised at Bologne, Italy, from August 31 to September 5. "There was a lot of discussion and it was decided that more studies and data would be collected." SPARC is the core project of the World Climate Research Programme.About 16 scientists from India participated in the week-long conference which debated extensively on issues that affected the stratosphere."My paper questioned whether a climatic shift has an impact on the ozone hole and whether the ozone hole is a real one or an indicator of the climate shift?" Mohan Kumar, who released his book on 'Stratosphere Troposphere Interaction,' said that all the data used in his study was published in the book.He said that one other factor that needs to be looked into was that there had been no major volcanic eruptions since 1994. Volcanic eruptions lead to the discharge of large chlorine molecules in the lower level of the stratosphere which destroy large amounts of ozone molecules thus causing a depletion.He said that unlike what is popularly believed, Asia is not the largest polluter of the CFCs, but US and Europe are the main culprits. "We strongly defended the charge that India are a major polluter of the ozone layer." Ozone depletion is more in the mid-latitudes like the Antartica rather than in tropical climates like ours, he said.

 

The New Indian Express, 17^th September 2008