Thursday, October 14, 2010

Forget Tsunamis: Asteroids Will Really Kill Us With UV Rays

Forget Tsunamis: Asteroids Will Really Kill Us With UV RaysIf a medium-sized asteroid lands in the ocean, tsunamis won't be the only worry. Water vapor and sea salt thrown up by the impact could damage the ozone layer, leading to record levels of ultraviolet radiation that could threaten humanity.

"This suggests new issues you could have with ocean impacts that people hadn't thought of before," says Brian Toon of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who was not involved in the work. ...

Some simulated impacts created depletions that were still felt across the whole Earth a year later. "It will produce an ozone hole that will engulf the entire Earth," Pierazzo says.

The longest lasting and most severe depletion – a cut of more than 70 per cent in ozone levels – occurred over much of the northern hemisphere.

... While people may be able to protect themselves from the increased threat of sunburn, the intense UV light could also affect our food supply by damaging plants and the phytoplankton that represent the bottom of the ocean's food chain. "That is enough to really cause problems for our civilization," Pierazzo says. ...

via Forget Tsunamis: Asteroids Will Really Kill Us With UV Rays.

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