Antarctic ozone hole hits record depth
A bad year for the ozone over Antarctica looked like a good bet this year. For the past 2 years, stratospheric ozone destruction has equaled the record set in 1987. Now things look even worse, with a record-setting ozone hole. In 1987, 1989, and 1990, the minimum amount of ozone over Antarctica early each October was 120 to 125 Dobson units compared to the typical level of 220 that prevailed before manmade Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) began eating into the ozone layer. The depletion allowed as much as twice the usual amount of biologically damaging ultraviolet light to reach the earth's surface. But researchers took some comfort in the fact that the hole seemed to have hit a barrier to further losses. Now that barrier may have been breached. On 6 October, the satellite-borne Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer detected an ozone minimum of 110 Dobson units. The region of the lower stratosphere where icy cloud particles and the chlorine of CFCs combine to destroy ozone - between 14 and 24 kilometers - looks much the same as it did in 1987.
- OSTI ID:
- 5706726
- Journal Information:
- Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 254:5030; ISSN 0036-8075
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ANTARCTICA
AIR POLLUTION
FREONS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
OZONE LAYER
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
REMOTE SENSING
SATELLITES
SPECTROMETERS
STRATOSPHERE
ANTARCTIC REGIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
LAYERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
POLAR REGIONS
POLLUTION
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)