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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, said in July that it had found the "smoking gun" that caused the space shuttle Columbia to break apart as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 1: a piece of foam that had peeled off the external fuel tank and struck the shuttle's wing 1 minute and 22 seconds after liftoff. But many experts looking at the tragedy that killed seven astronauts say there is a deeper cause. They say that the metaphorical smoking gun should be painted green. Because of demands that the agency help to front for...

The shear face of the massive B-15A iceberg after it broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in Antartica in 2001. The World Meteorological Organisation said Friday it expects the ozone hole over Antarctica to be "normal" this year, two years after it reached record size. (AFP/File/Josh Landis) GENEVA (AFP) - The World Meteorological Organisation said Friday it expects the ozone hole over Antarctica to be "normal" this year, two years after it reached record size. "Looking at the preliminary data so far, it looks as if the Antarctica ozone hole of 2008 in size and severity will be something in-between...

PANJIM, JUNE 16 (Agencies) — Manmade chemicals have damaged the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere that shields Earth from the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet rays, each summer creating a hole over the South Pole that expands to nearly the size of Antarctica. But in 1996, an international treaty banned the chemical refrigerants and propellants (known as CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons), and the hole has been shrinking. Scientists predict it may stop forming by the end of this century. But that’s not necessarily good news. A new study published in ‘Science’ says that the closing of the ozone hole...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: From Houston up first, this is Shannon, and welcome to the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Sweet southern mega dittos from a longtime listener, Rush. I've been listening to you since 1989, and I'm really proud to talk to you. RUSH: Thank you very much, sir. CALLER: I wanted to talk to you really quick about the "hole" in the ozone layer theory and manmade global warming and all of that. My dad works for the national scientific balloon facility in Palestine, Texas, and they are the folks that send down the weather balloons to Antarctica and do...

NASA and NOAA scientists report this year's ozone hole in the polar region of the Southern Hemisphere has broken records for area and depth. The ozone layer acts to protect life on Earth by blocking harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. The "ozone hole" is a severe depletion of the ozone layer high above Antarctica. It is primarily caused by human-produced compounds that release chlorine and bromine gases in the stratosphere... "From September 21 to 30, the average area of the ozone hole was the largest ever observed, at 10.6 million square miles," said Paul Newman, atmospheric scientist at NASA's...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The hole over Antarctica's ozone layer is bigger than last year and is nearing the record 29-million-square-km (11-million-sq-mile) hole seen in 2000, the World Meteorological Organization said on Friday. Geir Braathen, the United Nations weather agency's top ozone expert, said ozone depletion had a late onset in this year's southern hemisphere winter, when low temperatures normally trigger chemical reactions that break down the atmospheric layer that filters dangerous solar radiation. "The ozone depletion started quite late, but when it started it came quite rapidly," Braathen told journalists in Geneva. "It (the hole) has now risen to a...

May 26, 2006: Think of the ozone layer as Earth's sunglasses, protecting life on the surface from the harmful glare of the sun's strongest ultraviolet rays, which can cause skin cancer and other maladies. People were understandably alarmed, then, in the 1980s when scientists noticed that manmade chemicals in the atmosphere were destroying this layer. Governments quickly enacted an international treaty, called the Montreal Protocol, to ban ozone-destroying gases such as CFCs then found in aerosol cans and air conditioners. The Antarctic ozone hole. Today, almost 20 years later, reports continue of large ozone holes opening over Antarctica, allowing dangerous...

Report: Ozone Hole May Disappear by 2050Sat May 20, 9:01 AM ET TOKYO - The ozone hole over the Antarctic is likely to begin contracting in the future and may disappear by 2050 because of a reduction in the release of chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting gases, according to a team of Japanese scientists. The findings are based on a series of numerical simulations carried out by Eiji Akiyoshi of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, near Tokyo, using projected emissions of chlorofluorocarbons and other gases blamed for the ozone hole. According to a report posted Friday on the institute's Web...

A new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder indicates that two natural atmospheric processes in 2004 caused the largest decline in upper stratospheric ozone ever recorded over the far Northern Hemisphere. According to Research Associate Cora Randall of CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide gases in the upper stratosphere climbed to the highest levels in at least two decades in spring 2004. The increases led to ozone reductions of up to 60 percent roughly 25 miles in altitude above Earth's high northern latitudes, said Randall. "This decline was completely unexpected," she...

Swedish research downplays ozone hole risk Associated Press STOCKHOLM, Sweden — The reported risk of a hole in the ozone layer appearing over the Arctic this winter has been overstated, a Swedish researcher said Wednesday. "The stratosphere in the Arctic region has been unusually cold this winter," said Donal Murtagh, a professor of global environmental measurements at the Chalmers University of Technology in Goteborg. Murtagh also is the lead director for atmospheric science research for the Swedish orbital observatory Odin, which orbits the poles. Ozone, a form of oxygen, helps protect the Earth from some of the damaging ultraviolet radiation...

Scientists are scared that if the cold weather continues for the next couple of weeks, the seasonal hole in the Artic ozone layer could worsen this year. European Union scientists said that exceptionally cold conditions and persistent polar clouds alter the chemistry of the ozone layer. With temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer, now the coldest for 50 years, and have been consistently low for two months, this results in losses in the ozone layer when spring sunlight returns in the coming weeks, they said. Researchers from the EU’s SCOUT-03 project, which involves over 200 scientists from 19 countries, fear...

BRUSSELS, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Record cold temperatures this winter could create a bigger hole in the ozone layer over parts of northern Europe, leading to damaging ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer, the European Commission said on Monday. Scientists had confirmed record low temperatures in the Arctic high atmosphere and determined that the ozone layer, which is made up of oxygen and protects the earth from UV radiation, faced a greater risk because of the cold, it said. "First signs of ozone loss have already been detected," the EU executive said in a statement. "Should further cooling of...

The seasonal hole in the Arctic ozone layer could be the worst ever this year if the current cold conditions persist, scientists are warning. Temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer are now the coldest for 50 years and have been consistently low for two months. The ozone layer blankets the Earth at an altitude between 15 to 30 kilometres. It is part of a zone called the stratosphere, and absorbs ultraviolet light. European Union scientists said on Friday that if the exceptionally cold temperatures continue, and the persistent polar clouds - which alter the chemistry of the ozone layer -...

I have pondered at great length the recurring alarmism of environmental scientists as one shocking discovery after another have each, in their turn, posed planet-altering threats to humanity. I have also wondered at the rampant atheism of the scientific community as a whole. While each of these subjects is worthy of lengthy discussion, I have found what I believe is a common flaw in many of the methods of both, and other, camps. It seems that a common follow-up to the discovery of a phenomenon or development of a theory is an over-extrapolation of observable, solid facts. To wit: Observable...

A gaping hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica appears to have shrunk by about 20 percent from last year's record-breaking size, New Zealand scientists said on Friday. The National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said its measurements backed up NASA satellite data showing the hole peaked at about 9 million sq miles compared with 11 million sq miles in 2003. The ozone layer sits about 9-19 miles above the earth, filtering harmful ultraviolet rays that can cause skin cancer. Industrial chemicals containing chlorine and bromine used in refrigerators and aerosols have been blamed for thinning the layer...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The strength of the Earth's magnetic field has decreased 10 percent over the past 150 years, raising the remote possibility that it may collapse and later reverse, flipping the planet's poles for the first time in nearly a million years, scientists said.</p>

Another Environmentalist Bromide By Ben Lieberman Environmentalism has never been more predictable than it is today. Left-leaning activists and environmental journalists reflexively turn every green issue into a formulaic "Bush administration rollback" story, often with little regard for the facts and history of the issue. So it is with the much-criticized administration attempt to obtain exemptions for farmers who wish to use the chemical methyl bromide beyond its 2005 phaseout deadline. In truth, these exemptions will help prevent significant hardship for thousand of farmers and their customers, and will do so without any discernable threat to the environment. Along with...

Ozone layer 'sacrificed' to lift re-election prospects By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor 23 November 2003 President George Bush has brought the international treaty aimed at repairing the Earth's vital ozone layer close to breakdown, risking millions of cancers, to benefit strawberry and tomato growers in the electorally critical state of Florida, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. His administration is insisting on a sharp increase in spraying of the most dangerous ozone-destroying chemical still in use, the pesticide methyl bromide, even though it is due to be phased out under the Montreal Protocol in little more than a year. And...

U.N.: Seasonal Ozone Hole Disappeared Thu Nov 20, 2:45 PM ET GENEVA - The seasonal "ozone hole" over the South Pole has disappeared again after reaching record size earlier this year, U.N. officials said Thursday. The hole is a thinner-than-usual area in the protective layer of gas high up in the Earth's atmosphere. It has been forming in the extremely low temperatures that mark the end of Antarctic winter every year since the mid-1980s, largely due to chemical pollution. This year, the hole peaked at 10.81 million square miles in mid-September — matching the record size set three years ago....

Ozone Hole Peak Approaches, But Falls Short Of Record Greenbelt - Sep 26, 2003 This year's Antarctic ozone hole is the second largest ever observed, according to scientists from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Naval Research Laboratory. The Antarctic ozone hole is defined as thinning of the ozone layer over the continent to levels significantly below pre-1979 levels. Ozone blocks harmful ultraviolet "B" rays. Loss of stratospheric ozone has been linked to skin cancer in humans and other adverse biological effects on plants and animals. The size of this year's hole reached 10.9 million square...