He thinks the Ozone hole idea is refuted, because it isn't really a hole, it is only a thinning of the ozone layer. And it is partially caused by meteorological conditions.
Shame on you, making me look at that mess by mentioning an ozone layer claim.
Refer to my unlinked-to page,
BILL MORGAN'S QUESTION: THE OZONE LAYER, detailing my 1998-2011 "discussion" with a creationist (ie, they never discuss anything, but rather assert baldly and then run away) about his ozone layer claim (he hadn't written it himself, but rather had stolen it from another creationist as they are wont to do). As I discovered immediately, the "questions that scientists cannot answer" had been lifted directly from NOAA's list of frequently asked questions (FAQs)
which NOAA answered completely. That was back in 1998 and now it shows up again.
For example, he tries to blame natural sources of chlorine like the oceans and volcanos, but since free chlorine is highly soluble in water, all of that chlorine gets washed out of the air before it can reach the ozone layer. But chlorine that's bound in a stable molecule like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs, a refrigerant)
can avoid getting washed out the air and reach those altitudes where solar and cosmic radiation can break them apart, releasing the chlorine.
The other part of the claim is to deny that CFCs are present at those altitudes, but if that's the case then why do air samples taken directly from those altitudes (AKA,
empirical data which creationists always exalt over "just theories") find those molecules there? From my page (where I was mainly quoting from the NOAA page -- this was originally in an email):
quote:
How Can Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Get to the Stratosphere If They're Heavier than Air?
Although the CFC molecules are indeed several times heavier than air, thousands of measurements have been made from balloons, aircraft, and satellites demonstrating that the CFCs are actually present in the stratosphere. The atmosphere is not stagnant. Winds mix the atmosphere to altitudes far above the top of the stratosphere much faster than molecules can settle according to their weight. Gases such as CFCs that are insoluble in water and relatively unreactive in the lower atmosphere (below about 10 km) are quickly mixed and therefore reach the stratosphere regardless of their weight.
Much can be learned about the atmospheric fate of compounds from the measured changes in concentration versus altitude. For example, the two gases carbon tetrafluoride (CF4, produced mainly as a by-product of the manufacture of aluminum) and CFC-11 (CCl3F, used in a variety of human activities) are both much heavier than air. Carbon tetrafluoride is completely unreactive in the lower 99.9% of the atmosphere, and measurements show it to be nearly uniformly distributed throughout the atmosphere as shown in the figure. There have also been measurements over the past two decades of several other completely unreactive gases, one lighter than air (neon) and some heavier than air (argon, krypton), which show that they also mix upward uniformly through the stratosphere regardless of their weight, just as observed with carbon tetrafluoride. CFC-11 is unreactive in the lower atmosphere (below about 15 km) and is similarly uniformly mixed there, as shown. The abundance of CFC-11 decreases as the gas reaches higher altitudes, where it is broken down by high energy solar ultraviolet radiation. Chlorine released from this breakdown of CFC-11 and other CFCs remains in the stratosphere for several years, where it destroys many thousands of molecules of ozone.
The cited diagram depicting the concentrations by altitude can be found on the NOAA page linked to.
Add this one to our list of PRATTs.
Edited by dwise1, : added sub-title citing a 60's pot parody of "I'm back in the saddle again"
Edited by dwise1, : Corrected sub-title to match the remembered song title by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen; some details get a bit hazy after more than half a century
™ Version 4.2
