| Another One Bites the Dust |
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| Tuesday, 13 January 2009 | |
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Environment Canada has recently announced its closure of the Arctic Ozone Lab at Iqaluit, in the High Arctic, due to lack of funds. This observatory is used by U. S. and Japanese as well as Canadian scientists to detect stratospheric change on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut. Dr. David Wardle, chief of experimental studies and air quality research for Environment Canada said, "The operation is somewhat more expensive than we have the resources for at the moment. It's of the order of $1 million. In fact, we've been running it at half that expenditure for the past three or four years, and that has not helped." Kimberly Strong, University of Toronto atmospheric scientist, has been using the lab to study ozone depletion in the Arctic for the last four years. She points out that since Canada owns a large proportion of the world's Arctic landmass, they should be keeping a close eye on it. "I think that it's an abdication of responsibility", she said. "It's not a cheap thing to do, but I think it's very important for us to understand what's happening up there and why." The government hasn't decided if it will shut the lab down permanently, advised Dr. Wardle. Source: "CBCNEWS", http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/06/20/arctic_atmlab020620 |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 18 February 2009 ) |
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