Ozone Hole Leads to Global Warming, but in a Different Way

The growing hole in the ozone layer has long thought to be one of the primary causes of global warming. The ozone layer helps prevent the Earth from being struck from ultraviolet radiation, so a hole lets the radiation come through and the heat's surface. It makes sense, right? Well, the empirical evidence suggests that this correlation is not accurate. Now, however, a computer model created by several scientists suggests that the ozone hole might actually contribute to global warming, but in a completely unique way than expected.

The computer model shows that the ozone hole shifts the wind patterns and thus moves the clouds further towards the South Pole. Thus, the clouds will not reflect as much sunlight and thus increase the amount of ultraviolet radiation on the Earth. The cause of this ozone hole was discovered to be chlorofluorocarbons found in aerosols and cooling systems in the 1980s.

The study was conducted by Kevin Grise at Columbia University and collaborators including Lorenzo Polvani of Columbia University, George Tselioudis of NASA, Yutian Wu of New York City and Mark Zilenka of Lawrence Laboratory. It really is a revolutionary study because it completely changes conventional thinking regarding the ozone hole. A Yale University poll showed that 61 percent of people believed that the ozone layer contributes to global warming, but more people may buy this theory when looking at this new study.

CFCs are the cause of global warming, not CO2

According to a study done at the University of Waterloo, CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) have discovered to been the driving cause of global warming, not carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas. CFCs are synthetic chemicals that were created to eliminate toxic and flammable substances in refrigeration units and air conditioning units as well. Scientists soon discovered that CFCs were the cause of the depletion of ozone, which is useful for protecting people from ultraviolet radiation. Now, it has been discovered that CFCs also cause global warming.

"Conventional thinking says that the emission of human-made non-CFC gases such as carbon dioxide has mainly contributed to global warming. But we have observed data going back to the Industrial Revolution that convincingly shows that conventional understanding is wrong," said Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics at Waterloo.

Lu discovers that since 2002, global temperatures have actually declined, which correlates with a decline in the CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons since that period of time. Data recorded between 1850 and 1970, before any CFCs were created, shows that there was an increase in CO2 levels as a result of the Industrial Revolution, but the global temperature itself did not change and only kept constant. Empirically, temperatures should have risen by at least 1 degree over that same period, similar to the period between 1970 and 2002, when CFCs were being used for commercial purposes.

So what are the implications of this study for the long term? Does this mean we can continue to use fossil fuels without being worrisome?

Well carbon dioxide emissions do have other ramifications. However, Terry McMachon, dean of the faculty of science at Waterloo states that, "This study (done by Professor Lu) underlines the importance of understanding the basic science underlying ozone depletion and global climate change. The research is of particular importance not only to the research community, but to policy makers and the public alike as we look to the future of our climate."

In one word, this study is quite groundbreaking because it has completely changed our way of thinking and will completely change our way of thinking for the entire future.