Ozone Depletion and Surface UV Radiation

DIAZ, SUSANA B.

Tokyo

Simposio; 6th Symposium on the Science by Astronomical Earth Observatory (Chimondai) & International Workshop of Interactive Research Center of Science, from the Universe to Genomas; 2011

CHIMON Observatory/Interactive Research Center of Science

At the early seventies, the first studies alerting on the possibility of a depletion in the ozone layer, as a consequence of anthropogenic emissions, appeared. Later, in the middle eighties, strong stratospheric ozone depletion during spring was discovered over Antarctica. Satellite and ground based measurements indicate that ozone destruction inside the polar vortex has been increasing in the last two decades, with a larger rate until the middle nineties and slower in the last years. Since stratospheric ozone and UV-B radiation at the earth’s surface are inversely related, research on the variation of UV-B radiation at ground level has increased after the discovery of the “ozone hole”. Other factors such as solar zenith angle, cloud cover and aerosols also affect irradiance then, the variation of UV-B radiation at the earth’s surface is not easily derived from ozone variation to perform UV-B studies spectral measurements of solar radiation are a key issue. The interaction between UV radiation and ecosystems is complex and involve multidisciplinary studies. Between 1999 and 2004, the project “Enhanced Ultraviolet-B Radiation in Natural Ecosystems as an added Perturbation due to Ozone Depletion”, founded by the IAI, was carried on.  It was a 5 Years multidisciplinary project with 17 Principal Investigators, that involved 13 Institutions in 5 Countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile and USA. This project covered the studies of: a) Surface UV, b) Effects of UVR on Marine Ecosystems,  c)  Effects of UVR on Freshwater Ecosystems, d)  Effects of UVR on Marshes, e) Modelling and f)  Socio-Economic Impact of UVR. The main results of this project are shown in this presentation.