Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Holey Ozone



The ozone is a vital part to all means of life on earth, without it the Sun's Ultraviolet(UV) Rays would starilize the Earth's surface and any form of life would seize to exist. The ozone regualtes how much UV radiation hits the Earth's Surface.A quick description of what the ozone is made up of.. http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/facts/SH.html


"Ozone is a gas made up of three oxygen atoms (O3). It occurs naturally in small (trace) amounts in the upper atmosphere (the stratosphere). Ozone protects life on Earth from the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. In the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) near the Earth’s surface, ozone is created by chemical reactions between air pollutants from vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and other emissions. At ground level, high concentrations of ozone are toxic to people and plants." (NASA.gov/facts)


http://www.cosmostv.org/2011/04/ozone-layer-faces-record-loss-over.html

Reason Being...
The increase in population on Earth within the past century has lead me to believe that the human race is slowly putting all life at major risk. The more people their are in the world the more machines their will be causing more polutants to be emmitted into the environment therefore continuing the depletion of the ozone. More health risk occur over the years from breathing in the harmful ozone fumes. As the ozone gradually depletes the Earth's temperature is also slowly rising, leading to catastrophic events such as global warming. Urban areas such as cities tend to have a higher pollutant rate than rural areas, due to the unthinkable amount of harmful emissions being releaased into the atmospher on a daily basis.


"Increased levels of human-produced gases such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) have led to increased rates of ozone destruction, upsetting the natural balance of ozone and leading to reduced stratospheric ozone levels. These reduced ozone levels have increased the amount of harmful ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface. When scientists talk about the ozone hole, they are talking about the destruction of stratospheric, “good,” ozone." (NASA.gov/facts)



As for "hole" in the ozone...
"This year the Arctic winter was warmer than average at ground level, but colder in the stratosphere than normal Arctic winters".
"The Earth's fragile ozone layer in the Arctic region has suffered a loss of about 40 percent from the start of winter until late March"
http://www.cosmostv.org/2011/04/ozone-layer-faces-record-loss-over.html#ixzz1dfSK7yRq

What's there to do?
Clearly the sollution to the depletion of the ozone is to emit less harmfull toxins into the environment, but that cant happen overnight. The entire planet has to change daily life to have an evirnmentally friendly way of living. Everything from a backyard fire to car exhaust to factory smog is a factor in the depletion of the ozone. It's going to be a long process but if everyone can become more educated on the matter, change would happen much faster and the Earth would live alot longer. People would maintain a much healthier lifestyle and any machine that pollutes some sort of toxin hopefully become modified to be environmentally friendly. In the mean time the EPA(Evironmental Protection Agency) has released documents on the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for

Glacier Activity

Antarctica Glaciers
Antarctica contains 85% of the world’s ice and 70% of its fresh water. Antarctica is covered by a cap of ice that flows slowly toward its 22,400 km /14,000 miles coastal, reaching the sea in high ice cliffs. Little more than 1% of the land is ice-free. With a estimated volume of 24 million cu m/5.9 million cu miles, the ice-cape has a mean thickness of 1,880m/6,170 ft and in places reaches depths of 5,000 m/16,000 ft or more. Each annual layer of snow preserves a record of global conditions, and where no melting at the surface of the bedrock has occurred the ice can be a million years old.


http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1249&bih=603&tbm=isch&tbnid=FxoasItW0RdW6M:&imgrefurl=http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-01-26/news/17149187_1_ice-shelves-eric-rignot-glaciers&docid=vxS4jq8pVt3_bM&imgurl=http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/01/26/mn_antarctica.jpg&w=497&h=500&ei=IDbxTvvNKMTW0QGIvMi_Ag&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=246&vpy=158&dur=4199&hovh=225&hovw=224&tx=120&ty=132&sig=117368686176200137240&page=1&tbnh=115&tbnw=113&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

Due to global warming and hot spot activity increasing, glacial regions are  increasingly retreating as time goes on. If we continue polluting we will eventually find our selves running in to mass flooding, destroying and washing out large amounts of land.

"average temperatures in the Antarctic have increased by about 4.5 degrees F."-McKnight's 10th edition

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1249&bih=603&tbm=isch&tbnid=JcWh0sLedicx7M:&imgrefurl=http://nsidc.org/news/press/20080325_Wilkins.html&docid=wp0s3PX3TeVXUM&imgurl=http://nsidc.org/news/images/20080325_wilkins_figure1.jpg&w=1871&h=1696&ei=F0LxTomcNePb0QGivcTMAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=546&vpy=161&dur=4058&hovh=214&hovw=236&tx=57&ty=135&sig=117368686176200137240&page=1&tbnh=110&tbnw=121&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0

As the climate continues to increase it shows dramatic affect on the ice shelves in the Antarctic. Ice sheets flow outward from the interior towards the sea, meaning ice burgs are being broken off into the sea continuously around the perimeter.

Volcanic Activity

Volcanoes, though extremely powerfull and dangerous to virtually any animal or creature, they serve a great purpose on this earth and do alot more then just destroy. Volcanoes that erupt in the ocean have potential to become new land forms if it reaches the sureface of the water. Over time vegitation would grow and an island with forms of life will eventually live on it.

"The United States and its territories have about 170 volcanoes that have been active during the past 10,000 years, and most could erupt again in the future. In the past 500 years, 80 U.S. volcanoes have erupted one or more times. About 50 of these recently active volcanoes are monitored, although not all to the same degree..."
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3139/


http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1249&bih=603&tbm=isch&tbnid=f2A5pO2aVk78EM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcano&docid=S-OkqGEkkZce-M&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Isola_vulcano.jpg/500px-Isola_vulcano.jpg&w=500&h=170&ei=vSXxTqytO8rV0QHX_ImpAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=324&vpy=206&dur=3263&hovh=131&hovw=385&tx=226&ty=63&sig=117368686176200137240&page=1&tbnh=53&tbnw=156&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0


The Hawaiian Chain is a perfect example of when volcanic activity reaches the earths surface(known as hot spots) and becomes an island. As the plates of the earth move, magma rises through themantle and lithosphere known as a plume. As the plume rises through the lithosphere it creates a hot spot, on the surface its known as a Flood Basalt. While the plume is still rising beneath the surface, the plates move as well, creating new hot spots and volcanic activity.


http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1249&bih=603&tbm=isch&tbnid=gMQcO625dP5EuM:&imgrefurl=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/What-Were-Still-Learning-About-Hawaii.html&docid=HBWEHx1dfyz7eM&imgurl=http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/Hawaiian-islands-631.jpg&w=631&h=300&ei=5SvxTuWUL8nm0QGys4WdAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=467&vpy=302&dur=465&hovh=155&hovw=326&tx=193&ty=98&sig=117368686176200137240&page=1&tbnh=76&tbnw=159&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0


"About 90% of the surface of Kilauea is formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the volcano's surface is younger than 600 years. A long-term eruption from the East rift zone that began in 1983 has produced lava flows covering more than 100 sq km, destroying nearly 200 houses and adding new coastline to the island".
http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/#kilauea



http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1249&bih=603&tbm=isch&tbnid=0CXGnHX29bCX_M:&imgrefurl=http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/02ocean/hwgeo.htm&docid=B1-xtlGIVLay1M&imgurl=http://www.marinebio.net/marinescience/02ocean/hwimg/hw0597.jpg&w=700&h=351&ei=Vy3xTsCSJeLL0QG7-9zLAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=424&sig=117368686176200137240&page=2&tbnh=74&tbnw=148&start=21&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:21&tx=57&ty=76

Monday, November 14, 2011

Tragedy Hits Outskirts of Bangkok

In recent news, Bangkruai(45min from central Bangkok) has been isolated for about 2 weeks and has been experiencing brutal flooding leaving approximately 1,000 families stranded with nothing but the stock pile that they scavenged together before the flooding hit. Unfortunately most of the crop was wiped out, along with houses and factories, leaving many people with almost nothing. With the factories down people couldn't get money to support there family and with the crop wiped out, people were even more devastated.
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/thailand-flood-2.jpg


Eventually Thai Red Cross trucks were sent out to the ones who were affected the most dramatically. the families received a family kit containing food clothes and the basic medical supplies. As word got out about the supplies more and more people gathered to  receive help but many people had to be turned away because they simply didn't have enough supplies for everyone and they still had to travel to support more people in need from other flooding and hurricane disasters.

"Since the floods began in late June, Thai Red Cross has distributed more than 175,000 family kits almost with almost two million bottles of drinking water. Volunteers and staff have been active in 36 provinces, and have carried out some distributions in the flood affected northern suburbs of Bangkok."(ifrc.org)
http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/asia-pacific/thailand/communities-cut-off-by-flood-waters-on-the-outskirts-of-bangkok/
Bangkok is located on the tropic of cancer, therefore the weather there is usually warm with high precipitation. Flooding and monsoons are very common in that location but in recent years they have been increasing at a fairly rapid rate. Many factors play into the cause of excessive flooding on being global warming, the melting of the ice caps create more water, raising the water levels and creating these horrific floods. Hurricanes form only over warm water and a few degrees north or south of the equator normally traveling east to west. The reason Bangkok is so prone for this type of weather is because hurricanes are created and strive in  warm climate conditions. As the hurricane moves east to west it then moves poleward causing the massive floods.
http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/thailand-flooding.jpg