This image was courtesy of
http://www.nasa.gov/images/conte/403382main_portalBigPollution.jpg.
This map shows the carbon dioxide levels in the mid troposphere in the month of July in the year 2009. The levels of carbon dioxide have significantly risen in the past years on a human timescale and I find it interesting that our human influences can affect the global CO2 make up in such a drastic manner. While CO2 is found naturally, anthropogenic forces such as industry and automobiles have caused greater levels of carbon dioxide. I found that the website stated that "the United States accounted for almost 23 percent of all emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacture, by far the largest CO₂ contributor among nations. (China, with more than four times the U.S. population, is number 2.)" The red coloring over the US shows how the CO2 has high levels there due to industry, production, cars, and large cities.





The map from 1995 is courtesy of http://216.146.209.72/Publications/Reports/People_in_the_Balance/Interactive/peopleinthebalance/pages/?static=biodiversity and it depicts the estimated distribution of human population and the locations of the hotspots with high biodiversity and areas or major tropical wilderness. The hotspots are defined as the areas with the "most threatened of the species rich terrestrial areas of the world." I found this map interesting because it shows how the Los Angeles region, as well as many west coasts of continents, are considered to be areas of high biodiversity. I find this peculiar because Los Angeles is a major city and I would expect it to have low biodiversity considering that there is so much pollution and anthropomorphic disturbances.



This picture depict total ozone level of the world in the year 2002 in the month of January. This is another mapping courtesy of http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/additional/science-focus/ocean-color/ozone.shtml. This is of interest to me because the ozone hole that use to be apparent near the Antarctic in the 1970's and 19780's seems to have healed and the ozone seems to have been restored. The ozone hole was prevalent because of CFC's also known as chlorofluorocarbons came from hairspray or old refrigerators that would interact in the atmosphere to create chlorine which would eventually eat up the ozone. i find this map interesting because it shows that the Antarctic does not suffer from that problem anymore. The necessity of the ozone layer is to protect humans from harmful UVB radiation.