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| POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF RF/MW RADIATION ON THE IONOSPHERE | ||||||||||||
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Since the beginning of the oxygenated world, ozone (O3) forms a layer in the stratosphere, thinnest in the tropics (around the equator) and denser towards the poles. The amount of ozone above a point on the earth's surface is measured in Dobson units (DU) - typically ~260 DU near the tropics and higher elsewhere, though there are large seasonal fluctuations. It is created when ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) strikes the stratosphere, dissociating (or "splitting") oxygen molecules (O2) to atomic oxygen (O). In the absence of sunlight the atomic oxygen quickly re-combines with further oxygen molecules to form ozone:
(1/v = wavelength < ~ 240 nm) In the stratosphere ozone thus absorbs potentially harmful ultra-violet (UV) radiation from the sun (at wavelengths between 240 and 320 nm) which can inter alia cause skin cancer and damage vegetation. For the last 50 yrs or so RF transmissions have increasingly used the ionosphere underside (the Kenelly-Heaviside layers) as a means of transmission beyond the earth's curvature horizon. Inevitably such radiations have been partially absorbed by this insult. Over-horizon RF transmissions began in the early 1920s. Dramatic loss of ozone in the lower stratosphere over Antarctica was first noticed in the 1970s by a research group from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). Today the UHF and other frequency transmissions from TV, doubled now by cellphone telephony, exist all night when, prior to radio/TV, solar radiation was completely absent from the planet's dark side, permitting ozone recovery. The question arises whether these increasing RF/MW radiations are depleting the ozone layer from underneath, and contributing to already dangerously high and increasing depletion levels. It is noticeable that depletion is most evident above white surfaces (e.g the poles and Switzerland) and cities with high electromagnetic traffic. It was anticipated that limiting CFC production would lead to a recovery of the ozone layer within 50 years of 2000; the World Meteorological Organisation estimated 2045 (WMO reports #25, #37), but recent investigations suggest the problem is perhaps on a much larger scale than anticipated, and affecting middle latitudes. McLaughlan (1992) reported that weak AC magnetic fields can delay chemical reactions with no lower exposure limit. He proposed that this effect was due to the action of the fields on the spin state of electrons, delaying the reaction. Ozone is also destroyed by the following reaction:
a reaction which could also ensue from weak AC magnetic field exposure. In this study we measure the amount of ozone from ionisation in terms of negatively charged ions created in a closed container from a miniature negative ioniser with and without exposure to an RF source. There is a close correlation between the advent and rise of global satellite TV, mobile phone and RF/MW usage, and ozone depletion, all beginning to show significant changes in the mid/late 1970s. If this finding is correct, the continued and increasing level of nocturnal radio/TV/cellphone transmissions should be regarded as a global health hazard, and restricted accordingly. |
