Rocket launches may need regulation to prevent ozone destruction

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 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 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.

June 7th, 2009 Object flying by plane may have been model rocketLIBERTY, Texas — Investigators in Texas say a flying object that narrowly missed a Continental Express plane last month may have been a large model rocket. The jet's pilot and co-pilot spotted the object and a long white vapor trail shortly after they took off from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport on May 29.

May 16th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia Saturday launched a rocket carrying a US communication satellite into space, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. The Briz-m rocket, with a ProtoStar-2 satellite atop, blasted off at 0057 GMT from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, spokesman Alexander Bobrenev of the Khrunichev Centre, the manufacturer of the rocket, said.

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 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Global warming will set back the recovery of the ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere, warns a NASA study. Previous studies have shown that while the build up of greenhouse gases makes it warmer in the troposphere, up to 10 km high from sea level, these gases actually cool the upper stratosphere, between 30 to 50 km high.

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 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 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new simulation has shown that if 193 nations had not agreed to ban ozone-depleting substances, then nearly two-thirds of Earth's ozone would have been gone by the year 2065. The simulation was developed by atmospheric chemists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bilthoven.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers from University of Toronto have suggested a new minimal invasive therapy for relieving the pain of herniated disks. The minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment uses oxygen/ozone to relieve the chronic pain of herniated disks.

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.