Monday, April 27, 2015

Ozone Depletion Over Antartica

The Antarctic ozone hole is a dramatic thinning of ozone in the stratosphere over Antarctica each spring. This damage is due not only to the availability of ozone-depleting substances in the stratosphere, but also specific meteorological conditions that facilitate the destruction of ozone over Antarctica.
The ozone holes in 2000 and 2006 were the largest on record, measuring around 29.8 and 29.6 million square kilometres respectively (more than three and a half times the size of Australia), and at times extended over populated areas.
The 2002 and 2004 ozone holes were much smaller, due in large part to the disruption of the hole by other weather conditions in the troposphere and stratosphere.
Prospects for the long-term recovery of the ozone layer are good. Non-essential consumption of major ozone depleting substances ceased for developed countries in 1996, and for developing countries in 2010.
Scientists predict that if the international community continues to comply with the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer should recover to pre-1980 levels between 2050 and 2065.
While these repairs and natural reconstruction of the ozone are definitely a good thing, the expected dates are far ahead of us, and the final result isn't even the natural level of ozone depletion.

http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/ozone/ozone-science/ozone-layer

Antarctic Ozone Home TOMS ozone image 1979

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