Ozone Hole Causes Antarctic Sea Ice to Expand, Slows Warming

[Purveyor]

By Alex Morales

April 23 (Bloomberg) -- The ozone hole over the South Pole is canceling out the effects of global warming and causing sea ice production to build up around Antarctica, researchers said.

The human-induced depletion of the protective ozone layer has altered wind patterns and caused temperatures in most of the southern continent to fall so that more cold air flows over the Southern Ocean, freezing the water, the scientists said today in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The cooling has led to an increase in ocean ice cover in the southern hemisphere of about 1 percent per decade for the past 30 years, a marked contrast to the other pole, where Arctic sea ice shrank to its lowest recorded level in 2007.

“Both these factors are caused by man -- greenhouses gases in the north and the ozone hole in the south,” lead author John Turner, a professor of meteorology with the British Antarctic Survey, said in a telephone interview. “This shows the complexity of man’s impact on the planet.”

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide released by human activities, including burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil, are blamed by the United Nations for raising global average temperatures, causing glaciers and Arctic sea ice to melt and changing patterns of drought and rainfall.

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BLOOMBERG: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=a5EI1Y8ZCL9Y&refer=home

[ananda]

1. Denialists will love this and exploit it for all its worth..

.. which isn't much.

[Stellabella]

2. It's still climate change.

The hole in the ozone isn't good either.

What the hell is wrong with reducing pollutants anyway? Why do people think it's okay to shit where we live?

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Much more here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=194021&mesg_id=194021

[kestrel91316]

4. Oh, goody, this means we can keep polluting to our little old hearts' content.

Now I can go get that Hummer I've always wanted.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Well, no, it doesn't mean that… (I realize you're joking)

What it means is that the damage we've done to the ozone layer is (temporarily) masking some of the damage we've done to the rest of the ecosystem.

IRONY However, you can spray all of the CFC's into the atmosphere you like to help erode the ozone layer some more (got any old cans of hair spray?) IRONY