Thursday, October 25, 2012

Southern Ozone Hole Fairly Small This Year

Good news!:
This spring the Antarctic ozone hole was the second smallest it’s been in the past 20 years, satellite data shows.

Alarm at the damage being done to the ozone layer, which blocks most of the sun's skin cancer-causing high frequency ultraviolet rays, led to the 1987 Montreal Protocol.
Under that pact, countries agreed to phase out the use of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons.

It was the first United Nations treaty to be signed by every country in the organisation. Since then, the overall amount of atmospheric ozone has stopped declining, with the thinning of the ozone above Antarctica reaching its greatest extent in the spring of 2000 when it covered 29.9 million sqkm.

...The minimum concentration of ozone this year was 124 Dobson units, compared to typical ranges of 240 to 500 DU when the hole was not present, Nasa said.

To monitor the state of the ozone layer above Antarctica visit ozonewatch.

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