Hi. My name is Paul Shepson. I’m a Professor, and Director of the Purdue University Climate Change Research Center at West Lafayette, Indiana. But most importantly, I am just a guy who loves winter, and snow, and cold weather, and the beautiful Arctic landscapes and people! Here’s a picture I like, from Wainwright, Alaska.

I have been working in the Arctic for the past 20 years studying ozone, and very important atmospheric gas. Most people think about ozone in the stratosphere, which is about 15km up. We are interested in a different kind of ozone, the ozone that is at ground level. This is because ozone provides the atmosphere with its ability to clean itself of pollutants. And it does a good job of removing all of them, except CO2.

By the way, you may have heard some people asking if CO2 is a pollutant. Well, yes, it is! To me a pollutant is anything humans add to the atmosphere that can have an adverse affect on life on the planet. And we are doing that, and CO2 is a problem, everywhere, including here in the Arctic. OK, back to ozone. While we need to have some ozone in the atmosphere to keep our air clean, we can have too much, because ozone damages plants, and damages the human respiratory system, if there is too much, like there is around cities when they are “smoggy”. So, this is a good example of there being a delicate balance in nature. So, we have been studying ozone in the atmosphere up here in the Arctic, far from human influences (or so we thought…). What we found, about 20 years ago, is that certain chemicals in sea salt that sit on top of sea ice (maybe in part from new sea ice that creates these cool “frost flowers”, like those you see below) get liberated into the atmosphere in the spring when the sun rises and shines on the ice.

These chemicals destroy ozone, in fact they can destroy all the ozone in the lower atmosphere! Wow, this was a big surprise for us! So, we have known about this for about 20 years, but we have only been able to study it from coastal locations, while this chemistry happens out over the ocean. Only now have we been so lucky that we can be on this fantastic ship, on the frozen ocean. Now we can really watch this ozone depletion right where it is occurring. So, I am here helping my student, Phil Tackett (below), who is working on his Ph.D. in chemistry. He is a lucky man. When I worked on my Ph.D., I had to stay in a stinky old chemistry lab every day. Sometimes, his instruments don’t work so well up here, and he doesn’t feel so lucky then, at least so it seems from some of the words that come out of his mouth…..

The story lately has become more interesting, and much more important, because sea ice, the thing that initiates this chemistry, is declining. I don’t know what effect that will have on the chemistry we study, but it is very upsetting to me. Why? Well, if you have ever been on or near the Arctic Ocean, or talked with native Arctic people, you know how beautiful, how special, how peaceful it is here. Because of emissions of CO2, we are changing the face of the Arctic. Personally, I don’t believe that we have a right to do that. Because of the good science my colleagues do, we now understand what is happening. Burning of fossil fuels releases CO2 into the atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas, warming the lower part of the atmosphere, with various impacts. Here in the Arctic, it is causing sea ice to retreat, and that is happening faster than climate models have been predicting. So, the research we scientists do up here is important, but what is really important is communicating with the rest of the world about how beautiful it is here, how full of life the Arctic Ocean area is, and how everyone on the planet is involved in activities that are responsible for changing our planet. So, take a look at all the pictures, and the Soundslides on this web site! Then get involved! Help us all start changing the way we do things. Save energy.
Ride your bike to work! Here’s an example web site that provides info on what you can do:
Climate Protect.org

You can do a great deal, by changing the way you run your life. Other people will see you do that, and think it is cool.

Why?.......... Because it is.

Thank you.

ps Thanks to NSF for supporting this research!