[Science] Ozone Hole Hits Record Size

#1

Scientists: Ozone hole size sets record
Thu Oct 19, 8:19 PM ET

WASHINGTON - This year's Antarctic ozone hole is the biggest ever, government scientists said Thursday. The so-called hole is a region where there is severe depletion of the layer of ozone ¢¢¬¢‚¬ a form of oxygen ¢¢¬¢‚¬ in the upper atmosphere that protects life on Earth by blocking the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Scientists say human-produced gases such as bromine and chlorine damage the layer, causing the hole. That's why many compounds such as spray-can propellants have been banned in recent years.

"From Sept. 21 to 30, the average area of the ozone hole was the largest ever observed, at 10.6 million square miles," said Paul Newman, atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. That's larger than the area of North America.

In addition, satellite measurements observed a low reading of 85 Dobson units of ozone on Oct. 8. That's down from a thickness of 300 Dobson units in July.

The ozone hole is considered to be the area with total column ozone below 220 Dobson Units. A reading of 100 Dobson Units means that if all the ozone in the air above a point were brought down to sea-level pressure and cooled to freezing it would form a layer 1 centimeter thick. A reading of 250 Dobson Units translates to a layer about an inch thick.

In a critical layer of air between eight and 13 miles above the surface, the measurement was only 1.2 Dobson unit, down from 125 in July.

"These numbers mean the ozone is virtually gone in this layer of the atmosphere," said David Hofmann, director of the Global Monitoring Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory. "The depleted layer has an unusual vertical extent this year, so it appears that the 2006 ozone hole will go down as a record-setter."

The size and thickness of the ozone hole varies from year to year, becoming larger when temperatures are lower.

Because of international agreements banning ozone-depleting substances, researchers calculated that these chemicals peaked in Antarctica in 2001 and have been declining. However, many of them have extremely long lifetimes once released into the air.

While there are year-to-year variations, scientists expect a slow recovery of the ozone layer by the year 2065, anticipating declines in the use of damaging chemicals.

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On the Net:

NASA's ozone research: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookin ... ecord.html

#2

OK, while I know this may seem like a dumb ass question, but...Besides cutting down on releasing chems that destroy the ozone, what are we doing to replace it...Are there no such things as...Hmm...Ozone factories..?

#3

Ozone is O3 and it's complicated to generate big quantities of it e.g. with bigs eletrical discharges over O2

and remember the trouble is mainly in the south hemisphere, we'll have to wait till it reaches europe and usa

#4

amazing the largest hole is in the area where no one is, no?

seriously, does all the hairspray and spray paint "float" all the way to south pole without being chemically changed? or is it the "local" ozone regions get eaten away, and the ozone in the south pole "fills in" the local gaps?

or MAYBE the penguins have an ozone gun and they fire it into the sky while we are all asleep, and they plan to make the world nothing but islands of ice and oceans of fish.

happy feet, indeed... hmm?

or maybe the killer whales have the ozone gun to MELT the penguins ice so they can eat them all.

no real way of knowing until 2065, I guess.

#5

actually the ozone depletion is catalyzed by low temperatures

but who cares, still a piont in favour of global warming, huh?

#6

I had no idea they were saying we had past peak saturation and were predicting a recovery so soon. All hail mother natures power of recovery.

#7

Yeah, I need to educate myself on this, because like raum said, how or why the fuck do the holes end up @ the poles..?

#8

I also don't know much about this but would everything gravitate to the poles because of the rotation of the Earth?

#9

QUOTE(AYHJA @ Oct 24 2006, 10:04 PM) Yeah, I need to educate myself on this, because like raum said, how or why the fuck do the holes end up @ the poles..?

QUOTE(trashtalkr @ Oct 24 2006, 10:40 PM) I also don't know much about this but would everything gravitate to the poles because of the rotation of the Earth?

QUOTE(Fapper @ Oct 24 2006, 02:50 PM) actually the ozone depletion is catalyzed by low temperatures

#10

If there's any doubt about global warming/ozon holes, please refer to your closest skin cancer stats, and doctor recommendations for

eyes: GET GLASSES, that's what they all say
sun: DON'T stay in the sun, is what they all say.

Do you really think it's a hoax? Also, if you're wondering why the accumulation is there, just remember the shape of the earth /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />