The Constants Change – What You Do Not Know

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus (500 BC) theorized that everything is in continuous flux. Truly, he was way ahead of his time.

Here are some points to ponder.

Point #1

The Chandler Wobble, a movement in Earth’s axis of rotation that causes latitude to vary with a period of about 433 days.

If you travel to the Arctic and attempt to find the axis of Earth’s rotation, you’ll notice something odd. The position of this axis on Earth’s surface moves with a period of about seven years. This is the combined result of two effects. The one we’re interested today is called the Chandler Wobble, which has a period of 433 days and was discovered by American astronomer Seth Carlo Chandler in 1891.

MIT Technology Review | Earth’s Chandler Wobble Changed Dramatically in 2005

Point #2

The Chemical Equator was ‘discovered’ by British scientists in 2008.

In September of 2008, Phys.org reported, “British scientists say they’ve found a “chemical equator” that divides Northern Hemisphere polluted air from the mostly uncontaminated Southern Hemisphere.”

I discovered the chemical equator in 1971 while assigned by the Norden Company, my employer, to the USS Constellation. One of my tasks was to attend select debriefing sessions of returning A6A air crews. On a particular day we were far from the war and very near the equator. A pilot reported finding the air temperature above 80 degrees Fahrenheit at 20,000 feet altitude.

That debrief experience reminded me of my mom’s Sunbeam Mixmaster. When I would withdraw the mixer too quickly, cake batter would spin out from the center of the two beaters. I related the cake batter experience to the spin of the earth at the equator. It would be 37 years before I would have a term for what I observed in 1971.

The chemical equator divides the polluted air of the Northern Hemisphere from the largely uncontaminated atmosphere of the Southern hemisphere. Researchers found evidence for an atmospheric chemical equator around 50 km wide in cloudless skies in the Western Pacific. Their findings show for the first time that the chemical and meteorological boundaries between the two air masses are not necessarily the same.

Point #3

Point #2 leads to point #3, a question. You have heard how the chlorofluoro­carbons (CFCs) in our air conditioners and hair sprays deplete the ozone layer, leaving what is known as the ozone hole.

Where is the ozone hole? Do you know?

The ozone hole is above Antarctica, the South Pole. Knowing how the chemical equator isolates the polluted northern hemisphere from the southern, why is the ozone hole not above the North Pole?

Due to the fact of Point # 2, and the fact of the ozone hole over the South Pole, should we be looking to something natural as a source of CFCs?

Allow me to introduce you to Mount Erebus on the Ross Sea peninsula of the South Pole. I quote from Science Direct: “Erebus volcano is the natural and powerful source of additional stratospheric HCl and SO₂, and hence, the cause of the Antarctic ozone depletion, together with man-made chlorofluorocarbons [that are isolated to the northern hemisphere by the chemical equator]. In order to remain politically correct, the blame must be on humans, don’t you know.