[asa] Nature: Chemists Poke Holes in Ozone Theory

But first - let's just remember exactly "who" the culprit was who was
involved in helping promote the "Ozone Theory" in the first
place. Yessss ... it is the same 60's retread who is now promoting
this hare-brained idea:
<http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-09-26T170414Z_01_L26922558_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-CLIMATE-PIPES-COL.XML&archived=False>Reuters:
Gaia Guru Urges Ocean Pipes to Fix Earth's Climate
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-09-26T170414Z_01_L26922558_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-CLIMATE-PIPES-COL.XML&archived=False

Yessss .. James Lovelock.
http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issues/lovelock187.htm

"So what does visionary Lovelock see now? There is no specific,
mechanistic scenario for the downfall of civilized man, but rather a
gut feeling of approaching catastrophe. " -
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/02/james-lovelocks-gloomy-vision/

And just when DuPont's patents are ready to run out - guess what is
in the works again --- all under the guise of "saving the planet".

<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901455/posts>Governments
Agree to Accelerated Freeze and Phase-out of HCFCs
www.greencarcongress.com ^ | 09/24/2007 | Staff
Delegates from 190 countries plus the European Commission have agreed
to accelerate the freeze and phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons
(HCFCs), chemicals that were used to replace the more ozone-damaging
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The decision, made at the 19th Meeting of
the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, follows mounting evidence that
HCFCs contribute to global warming. More:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901455/posts

~ Janice .. the Nature item is below:

Nature.com: Chemists Poke Holes in Ozone
Theory http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070924/full/449382a.html

Ronald Bailey | September 27, 2007, 10:02am

Scientists are commemorating the
<http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=107957>discovery 20
years ago that man-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used chiefly in
refrigerators and air-conditioners were responsible for creating the
"ozone hole" over the Antarctic. The scientists concluded that CFCs
would drift into the stratosphere where they would produce chlorine
compounds that react with ice particles and sunlight to efficiently
destroy ozone molecules that shield the surface from ultraviolet
light streaming from the sun. In 1987, the world adopted the Montreal
Protocol to eventually eliminate the production of CFCs. Activists
often cite the Montreal Protocol as a model for a future treaty
addressing man-made global warming by banning the emission of
greenhouse gases. A
<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1995/press.html>Nobel
Prize in chemistry was awarded in 1995 to the three scientists who
identified the ozone/CFC connection.

This neat story of the scientific identification of a man-made cause
for stratospheric ozone depletion followed by a successful
international response to the threat is now being challenged by some
very recent research. News@nature.com is reporting a new analysis by
Markus Rex, an atmosphere scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute
of Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany, which finds that
the data for the break-down rate of a crucial molecule, dichlorine
peroxide (Cl2O2) is almost an order of magnitude lower than the
currently accepted rate.

What this could mean according to the Nature news article is that:
"This must have far-reaching consequences," Rex says. "If the
measurements are correct we can basically no longer say we understand
how ozone holes come into being." What effect the results have on
projections of the speed or extent of ozone depletion remains unclear.
The rapid photolysis of Cl2O2 is a key reaction in the chemical model
of ozone destruction developed 20 years ago2 (see graphic). If the
rate is substantially lower than previously thought, then it would
not be possible to create enough aggressive chlorine radicals to
explain the observed ozone losses at high latitudes, says Rex. The
extent of the discrepancy became apparent only when he incorporated
the new photolysis rate into a chemical model of ozone depletion. The
result was a shock: at least 60% of ozone destruction at the poles
seems to be due to an unknown mechanism, Rex told a meeting of
stratosphere researchers in Bremen, Germany, last week.

Other groups have yet to confirm the new photolysis rate, but the
conundrum is already causing much debate and uncertainty in the ozone
research community. "Our understanding of chloride chemistry has
really been blown apart," says John Crowley, an ozone researcher at
the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.

"Until recently everything looked like it fitted nicely," agrees Neil
Harris, an atmosphere scientist who heads the European Ozone Research
Coordinating Unit at the University of Cambridge, UK. "Now suddenly
it's like a plank has been pulled out of a bridge."
... http://www.reason.com/blog/show/122712.html

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Received on Fri Sep 28 19:07:48 2007