The first ozone measurement observatory in Tibet Autonomous Region has became operational
on the world's highest plateau, according to local meteorological
administration.
With an investment of 1.52 million yuan (US$208,000),
installment on the observatory began last December at an elevation
of 3,648.9 meters in Lhasa, the regional capital. It is equipped
the cutting-edge Brewer Ozone Spectrophotometer which alone costs
1.40 million yuan (US$192,000).
"Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a hot-spot area for international
climate change observation," said Zhang Yong, a senior engineer
with Lhasa Meteorological Bureau,"The comparison of ozone
observation data in Tibet with those in the baseline observatory in
Qinghai Province will accurately reflect the changes in the ozone
layer over the plateau."
He said the observatory will provide precise information on the
total ozone amount and the Ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation.
"The sophisticated instrument will regularly send data to
Chinese meteorological departments for analysis, and will be
further forwarded to the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data
Center (WOUDC) based in Canada to avail scientist from all over the
world," said Zhang.
Lhasa is located in the low-level ozone layer region on western
China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Chinese scientists have found the
ozone layer was thinner on the plateau during summer, compared with
other regions of the same latitude on the earth.
Ozone is one of the gases forming the Earth's atmosphere and is
the major shield against UVB radiation, absorbing approximately 90
percent of solar UVB. Excessive exposure to UVB can cause skin
cancer in humans and is a major contributor to glacial melting.
China has installed five Brewer-equipped ozone observatories ,
including one in the Zhongshan Station in Antarctica.
All About
Ozone layer,
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2008)
