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Is there a relationship between the weakening of the earth's magnetic field and the Ozone hole or GW?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/08...
It seems that the Earth's magnetic field is weakening in the southern hemisphere (See above link).
Is it possible that this affects the "Ozone Hole" over the South Pole or is responsible for some (or all) of the perceived global warming?
I know that ozone does have a polarity, if the magnetic field is weakening, would that change the distribution of ozone in the atmosphere?
Would it allow more solar radiation to penetrate through the magnetosphere and be a major cause in perceived global warming?
1 Answer
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
That is a very good question. I'll try to address all of the parts for you. The first part is about the magnetic field. Scientists to believe that there is a change in the magnetic field. This has happened many times throughout history. In fact, we are overdue for a major change in the field where it actually flips north to south. This will have a major impact on navigation systems that rely on the Earth's magnetic field such as compasses. Scientists believe (as pointed out by the article) that these are minor shifts that are preceding the big shift. Next, you asked about the ozone hole. You mentioned that ozone is polar and the hole may be caused by the magnetic field. This, however, is not true. The reason why we have the hole in the first place is from man-made chemicals known as CFC's. These chemicals break apart in the atmosphere. The result is free chlorine atoms in the atmosphere. The oxygen you breath is O2. The oxygen in the ozone layer is O3, a very unstable stucture because oxygen wants only one pair. The chlorine comes into contact with the ozone and pulls one oxygen from the trio to make ClO, or chlorine monoxide. This molecule is also very unstable and breaks apart. The chlorine is free to complete the same reactions many many times over, breaking apart the ozone. The single oxygen atoms then combine with other oxygen atoms to create O2 as opposed to O3. The reason why the hole is concentrated over the South Pole is because of a seasonal weather phenomenon over the South Pole known as the Antarctic Polar Vortex, where air just circulates around the pole, concentrating the hole. Next, scientists have shown that the ozone hole has nothing to do with global warming. GW is attributed to greenhouse gases, while ozone is not considered a greenhouse gas high in the atmsophere. So, you can see that the magnetic field has nothing to do with the ozone hole or GW.
Source(s): http://www.cfm.brown.edu/people/sean/Vortex/ http://www.ciesin.org/TG/OZ/ozndplt.html http://www.theozonehole.com/fact.htm