November 07, 2018
Good Morning,
I remember years ago when "Ozone Depletion" was a big topic of discussion. Now, a study concerning the Northern hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone holes states that they are expected to be whole again in the near 2030s.
Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.
Until Next Time,
Erin
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*-- Ozone hole in northern hemisphere to recover completely by 2030 --*
Scientists expect the Northern hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone holes to be completely repaired some time in the 2030s, according to the first assessment of the ozone hole since 2014.
The study, "Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018," published Monday by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization, highlighted the decrease of ozone-depleting substances as the cause for the ozone's rebound. The study, which is conducted every four years, monitors ozone activity and represents the latest ozone assessment since 2014.
The ozone is a protective layer that shields life on Earth from dangerous, ultraviolet sun rays.
The recovery rate of the ozone has ranged from one to three percent since 2000. Scientists credit those gains to the Montreal Protocol, a 30-year old international agreement aimed at reducing the use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, and other ozone-depleting substances that come from aerosol cans, cooling and refrigeration systems and other objects.
Next year, the impacts of the Montreal Protocol are expected to grow with the ratification of the Kigali Amendment, which is designed to cut even further the use ozone-eroding gases in refrigerators, air conditioners and products.
Scientists said the Southern Hemisphere ozone should fully recover some time in the 2050s, and polar regions will be recovered in the 2060s.
The findings come along nearly a month after the release of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report describing the destructive impact of a two-degree Celsius temperature rise on the environment. United Nations chief António Guterres called the revelation an "ear-splitting wake-up call."
Scientists said the Kigali Amendment could help lower the Earth's temperature by 0.4 degree, keeping under the dangerous two degree mark.
"The Montreal Protocol is one of the most successful multilateral agreements in history for a reason," Erik Solheim, head of the UN Environment, said in a press release. "The careful mix of authoritative science and collaborative action that has defined the Protocol for more than 30 years and was set to heal our ozone layer is precisely why the Kigali Amendment holds such promise for climate action in future."
*-- Parker Solar Probe breaks speed record, becomes closest spacecraft to sun --*
The Parker Solar Probe now holds two records: Closest approach to the sun by a spacecraft and fastest human-made object relative to the Sun.
Since its launch on Aug. 12 from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, the probe has passed Venus and is heading closer to the Sun. In all, the craft will travel nearly 90 million miles, passing within Mercury's orbit and within 3.83 million miles of the sun's atmosphere, which is expected in 2024.
At 1:04 p.m. EDT Monday, the spacecraft passed the current record of 26.55 million miles from the Sun's surface as calculated by the Parker Solar Probe team. It broke the record set by the German-American Helios 2 spacecraft in April 1976.
"It's been just 78 days since Parker Solar Probe launched, and we've now come closer to our star than any other spacecraft in history," Project Manager Andy Driesman, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., said in a press release. "It's a proud moment for the team, though we remain focused on our first solar encounter, which begins on Oct. 31."
At 10:54 p.m. EDT, the craft also broke the speed record set by Helios 2, surpassing 153,454 miles per hour.
"Parker Solar Probe will repeatedly break its own records, achieving a top speed of about 430,000 miles per hour in 2024," NASA's Sarah Frazier wrote in a blog post. The speed of sound is 761.2 mph.
The team periodically measures the spacecraft's precise speed and position using NASA's Deep Space Network, or DSN. A signal is sent to the spacecraft, which then retransmits it back to the DSN, allowing the team to determine the spacecraft's speed and position based on the timing and characteristics of the signal.
The probe will begin it's first encounter with the Sun on Wednesday, culminating with its perihelion, or closest point to the Sun, at about 10:28 p.m. EST on Monday.
NASA said the spacecraft will provide the first close-up observations of the sun as it encounters temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and brutal radiation.
The solar probe's instruments will detect and measure the movement of electrons, protons and ions that make up the corona and the solar winds generated there.
"The Parker Solar Probe's observations will help us answer questions like: Why is the corona a couple million degrees hotter than the sun?" Eric Christian, a space scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told UPI last month ahead of the probe's launch. "Another question we hope to answer is: Why is the solar wind accelerating up to very high speeds in the corona? Some high-energy solar particles accelerate to nearly half the speed of light, and we don't know why."
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