NASA scientists claim that solar ultraviolet radiation (the UV-B type) reaching the Earth's surface has increased over the last 15 years. The reason for this, according to NASA, is the thinning ozone layer.
NASA reported that the annual average UV-B exposure has increased by 6.8 percent per decade at 55 degrees north latitude, where major populations in Europe reside.
At 55 degrees south latitude (South America) the reported increase has been 9.9 percent per decade. Around the Canadian border the increase was pegged at 4 percent per decade.
Interestingly enough, though, and not mentioned in the NASA press release,
Nothing new under the sun? The natural variation in the amount of UV-B striking the Earth's surface can vary routinely by as much as 20 percent per year!
If the natural variation can be 20 percent per year, exactly how confident can NASA be that they measured a change of 9.9 percent per decade?
What do you believe? Ground-based detectors measuring the amount of UV-B radiation that strikes them? Or a satellite way up in the sky that estimates the amount of radiation that strikes the ground?
Is it possible that NASA left its best days on the moon?
Or was this study was one small misstep for NASA, and one giant leap for junk science!