Photo-Dissociation of Ground-Level Ozone Pollution by Solar Ultraviolet-B Radiation Must Play a Much Greater Role in Warming Urban Heat Islands Than Currently Considered

Abstract:

When a molecule of ozone absorbs ultraviolet-B solar radiation with frequencies of oscillation near 1176 THz, it is dissociated into a molecule of oxygen and an atom of oxygen. Both pieces fly apart at high velocity converting kinetic energy of oscillation of the bond into kinetic energy of linear motion of the molecular pieces. Temperature of air is proportional to average kinetic energy of linear motion, which is proportional to average velocity of linear motion squared. When a molecule and an atom of oxygen collide, the bond can be reestablished and then dissociated again in the well-known oxygen-ozone cycle. Continual dissociation of oxygen by ultraviolet-C radiation with frequencies near 1237 THz warms the upper stratosphere. Continual dissociation of ozone warms the ozone layer in the lower stratosphere. In conditions normal before 1970, 97 to 99% of all ultraviolet-B radiation was absorbed in the lower stratosphere. Between 1970 and 1996, ozone depletion increased to as much as 70%, allowing more ultraviolet-B radiation to reach Earth. Ultraviolet-B penetrates oceans tens of meters and thus is efficiently absorbed, increasing ocean heat content as continues today. But ultraviolet-B also dissociates ground-level ozone pollution, directly heating polluted urban areas. Global warming since 1950 was twice as great in the northern hemisphere containing 90% of world population.

There are only three ways that air in Earth’s atmosphere is observed to be warmed every day: when air comes in contact with Earth’s sun-warmed surface and rises by convection warming the troposphere from below, when ultraviolet radiation dissociates gas molecules, warming the mesosphere and stratosphere from above, and when extreme ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma ray frequencies ionize and heat the ionosphere and thermosphere from above. Terrestrial infrared radiation absorbed by greenhouse gases does not have high-enough energy to dissociate any gas molecule. Carbon dioxide absorbs less than 16% of the frequencies radiated by Earth and this energy is absorbed into the bonds holding the molecule together, which has no direct effect on kinetic energy of linear motion nor on gas temperature. It has yet to be shown by experiment that greenhouse gases are the primary cause for observed global warming. Details at WhyClimateChanges.com.