Climate change will set back ozone layer recovery: NASA

August 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that nitrous dioxide, popularly known as 'laughing gas', has now become the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities, and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century. The study was authored by A.R.

August 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that cleaning up black carbon emissions, created through diesel and solid biomass fuel burning, provides instant benefits against global warming. The research was conducted by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC (University of California) San Diego climate and atmospheric scientist V.

August 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have determined that depletion in the ozone layer is reducing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake of the Southern Ocean. Most current models predict that the strength of the Southern Ocean CO2 sink should increase as atmospheric CO2 rises, but observations show that this has not been the case.

July 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of NASA-funded researchers have found that future concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone in the atmosphere and of nitrogen in the soil are likely to have an important but overlooked effect on the cycling of water from sky to land to waterways. With the help of a modeling experiment, the researchers concluded that models of climate change may be underestimating how much water is likely to run off the land and back into the sea as atmospheric chemistry changes.

June 27th, 2009 Obama, Brown speak on climate change, economyWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday spoke with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss climate change and the global economic recovery. Obama spoke with his counterpart by telephone as part of their ongoing consultations.

June 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has suggested that hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are good for protecting the ozone layer from destruction, could increasingly contribute to global warming. The research was conducted by scientists from NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory and their colleagues.

April 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that increased growth in Antarctic sea ice during the past 30 years is a result of changing weather patterns caused by the ozone hole. The research, done by scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and NASA, indicates that while there has been a dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice, Antarctic sea ice has increased by a small amount as a result of the ozone hole delaying the impact of greenhouse gas increases on the climate of the continent.

April 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA is inviting the public to vote online for the most important contribution the space agency has made to exploring Earth and improving the way we live on our home planet. NASA is conducting the survey as part of its celebration of Earth Day, April 22.

April 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research by NASA scientists has suggested that the ozone layer might recover in the future, thanks to the changing climate and atmospheric circulation. According to the scientists, Earth's ozone layer should eventually recover from the unintended destruction brought on by the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar ozone-depleting chemicals in the 20th century, since greenhouse gases are changing the dynamics of the atmosphere.

April 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Aerosols are possibly behind much of the atmospheric warming in the Arctic since 1976, according to US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists. Emitted by natural and human sources, tiny airborne particles called aerosols can directly influence climate by reflecting or absorbing the sun's radiation.

April 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Rocket launches in future may require more stringent regulation to minimise damage to the ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere, according to a new study. Today, just a handful of NASA space shuttle launches release more ozone-depleting substances in the stratosphere than the entire annual use of CFC-based medical inhalers used to treat asthma and other diseases in the US, said Darin Toohey, professor of Colorado University at Boulder (CUB) atmospheric and oceanic sciences department.

April 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study by researchers in California and Colorado has suggested that the global market for rocket launches may require more stringent regulation in order to prevent significant damage to Earth's stratospheric ozone layer in the decades to come. The study, which includes the University of Colorado at Boulder and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, provides a market analysis for estimating future ozone layer depletion based on the expected growth of the space industry and known impacts of rocket launches.

March 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - What would happen if the planet's upper atmosphere were to be stripped of two-thirds of its ozone layer by 2065, not just over the poles, but everywhere? Intense DNA-mutating ultraviolet (UV) radiation, up by 650 percent, falling on mid-latitude cities like Washington, would singe your skin in just five minutes, besides damaging plants, animals and aggravating skin cancer rates. Such is the world we would have if 193 nations had not agreed to ban ozone-depleting substances, according to atmospheric chemists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bilthoven.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Long-term exposure to ground-level ozone, a component of smog, may result in increased risk of death from respiratory ailments, according to a new study throughout the US. Ozone, a gas made up of three oxygen atoms - forms a protective layer from the sun's ultraviolet radiation when located in the Earth's upper atmosphere.

February 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers have identified factors that cause airway irritation and wheezing after exposure to a common urban air pollutant like ozone. 'We found that it is not the ozone itself that causes the body to wheeze, but the way the lungs respond to ozone,' said Stavros Garantziotis, principal investigator at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and co-author of the study.