LECTURE 10

IMPACT OF POLLUTION ON CLIMATE

CHANGE, GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND
OZONE LAYER DEPLETION

Engr Bonifacio B. Magtibay, PhD 1

CLIMATE CHANGE AND GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Weather Climate Climate

Variability

Enahnced Greenhouse Climate

Global warming
effect Change
WEATHER – set of meteorological conditions (wind, rain, snow,
sunshine, temperature, etc.) at a particular time and place
- what we experience day-to-day
CLIMATE – overall long-term characteristics of the weather
experienced at a place (average conditions and variability
-what we expect based on 30-year averages
Climate variability -short-term fluctuations around the
average weather
Greenhouse effect – a natural process of warming the earth by
greenhouse gases

Enhanced greenhouse effect – an increase in the concentration of

greenhouse gases due to human activities leading to abnormal
greenhouse effect and excessive global warming
 GREENHOUSE GASES

Compound Formula Contribution

(%)
Water vapor and
H2O 36 – 72%
clouds
Carbon dioxide CO2 9 – 26%
Methane CH4 4–9%

Ozone O3 3–7%
IMPORTANCE OF GREENHOUSE GASES

• If there is no greenhouse effect,

the average temperature on the
earth’s surface would
approximately be -15oC and life on
earth would then be unattainable
 CLIMATE CHANGE

• A CHANGE IN THE STATE OF THE CLIMATE THAT CAN BE

IDENTIFIED (E.G. USING STATISTICAL TESTS)
BY CHANGES IN THE MEAN AND/OR THE VARIABILITY OF
ITS PROPERTIES, AND THAT PERSISTS FOR AN EXTENDED
PERIOD, TYPICALLY DECADES OR LONGER (IPCC)
• CAN TRIGGER EXTREME OR SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS
AND CHANGE WEATHER PATTERNS
 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON WATER
• WARMER TEMPERATURES INCREASE THE RATE OF EVAPORATION
OF WATER INTO THE ATMOSPHERE
• INCREASED EVAPORATION MAY DRY OUT SOME AREAS AND MAY
FALL AS EXCESS PRECIPITATION ON OTHER AREAS LEADING TO
FLOODING
• EXCESSIVE PRECIPITATION MAY CAUSE FLOODING AND RUINS
PEOPLE’S PROPERTIES, AND SOMETIMES LIVES.
• WARMING TEMPERATURES CAN MELT THE ICE CAPS LEADING TO
SEA LEVEL RISE AND COASTAL FLOODING
 CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER

Increased Increased
evaporation rainfall

Climate change Flood

Increasing global
temperature
Melting of Sea level
ice caps rise
Human-induced
greenhouse
gases
 CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPACT ON HEALTH

Climate change Environmental changes

Excessive Drought Heatwave

Flood
Rainfall

Stagnant water Water pollution Water scarcity Air pollution

Health and safety

Diarrhoea, cholera, malaria Dehydration, Heat stress

dengue, leptospirosis scabies
Respiratory
Drowning Malnutrition Mental health diseases
 CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPACT ON HEALTH

• WHO ESTIMATED THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR:

- 2.4% OF DIARRHEA CASES (WORLDWIDE)
- 6% OF MALARIA CASES (IN SOME MIDDLE-INCOME
COUNTRIES)
- 7% OF DENGUE FEVER CASES (IN SOME INDUSTRIALIZED
COUNTRIES)
IN 2000

• IN TOTAL, CLIMATE CHANGE WAS ESTIMATED TO BE

RESPONSIBLE
FOR 0.3% OF DEATHS AND 0.4% OF DISABILITY ADJUSTED
LIFE YEARS (WORLD HEALTH REPORT, 2002).
 TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL VS. DIARRHOEA

A PACIFIC ISLANDS STUDY:

• 3% INCREASE IN DIARRHOEA PER
DEGREE INCREASE IN TEMPERATURE
• 2% INCREASE IN DIARRHOEA PER
UNIT INCREASE IN RAINFALL ABOVE
5 × 10–5 KG/M2/MIN
• 8% INCREASE IN DIARRHOEA PER
UNIT DECREASE IN RAINFALL
BELOW 5 × 10–5 KG/M2/MIN
(SINGH, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES,
2001)
 HEAT STRESS

• PER 10 C INCREASE ABOVE 200 C = 2.6 % INCREASE IN OVERALL

MORTALITY IN CHILDREN UNDER 15 (GOUVEIA, 2003, INT’L JOURNAL
OF EPIDEMIOLOGY)
 OZONE LAYER DEPLETION

• IN 1930, AN ENGLISH SCIENTIST NAMED SYDNEY CHAPMAN ATTEMPTED TO

EXPLAIN HOW OZONE WAS FORMED AND DESTROYED IN THE ATMOSPHERE.
• THE ‘CHAPMAN MECHANISM’ SUGGESTED THAT ORDINARY OXYGEN
MOLECULES (O2) ABSORBS SHORT WAVELENGTH ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT.
• SUNLIGHT APART OXYGEN MOLECULES INTO TWO OXYGEN ATOMS (O).
• ATOMS OF OXYGEN WOULD THEN ATTACH THEMSELVES TO OTHER OXYGEN
MOLECULES TO FORM OZONE (O3).
• CHAPMAN ALSO PROPOSED THAT OXYGEN ATOMS COULD BREAK UP
OXYGEN MOLECULES BY COLLIDING WITH THEM TO PRODUCE TWO
OXYGEN MOLECULES.
 HUMAN IMPACT ON
THE OZONE LAYER

• LOCATION AND PURPOSE OF THE OZONE LAYER

• BLOCKS UV-A AND UV-B

• SEASONAL AND LONG-TERM DEPLETION OF OZONE

• THREAT TO HUMANS, ANIMALS, PLANTS
• CAUSES – CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS (CFCS)
 INDIVIDUALS MATTER: BANNING OF
CHLOROFLUOROCARBONS (CFCS)
• CHEMISTS ROWLAND AND MOLINA –
• NOBEL PRIZE IN 1995
• CALLED FOR BAN
• REMAIN IN ATMOSPHERE
• RISE INTO STRATOSPHERE
• BREAK DOWN INTO ATOMS THAT ACCELERATE OZONE
DEPLETION
• STAY IN STRATOSPHERE FOR LONG PERIODS
• DEFENDED RESEARCH AGAINST BIG INDUSTRY
 FORMER USES OF CFCS

• COOLANTS IN AIR CONDITIONERS AND REFRIGERATORS

• PROPELLANTS IN AEROSOL CANS
• CLEANING SOLUTIONS FOR ELECTRONIC PARTS
• FUMIGANTS
• BUBBLES IN PLASTIC PACKING FOAM
Fig. 15-26, p. 398
Fig. 15-27, p. 398
 REVERSING OZONE DEPLETION

• STOP PRODUCING OZONE-DEPLETING CHEMICALS

• SLOW RECOVERY
• MONTREAL PROTOCOL
• COPENHAGEN PROTOCOL
• INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION