Posted on 09/16/2005 12:50:34 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
GENEVA (Reuters) - The hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica has grown to near record size this year, suggesting 20 years of pollution controls have so far had little effect, the United Nations said on Friday.
In a bulletin on the seasonal depletion of ozone gas, which filters harmful ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and cataracts, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said the hole would peak within a couple of weeks.
"It will probably not break any records, but it shows that ozone depletion is going on and that the so-called ozone recovery has yet to be confirmed," Geir Braathen, WMO's top ozone expert, told a news briefing.
U.S. scientists reported last month that the ozone layer has stopped shrinking but it will take decades to start recovering.
The hole above the South Pole and Antarctica, which spans about 27 million sq km, was expected to grow another million sq km in a week, bringing it close to the record years of 2000 and 2003, the WMO said.
It had passed over Ushuaia, in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina, "leading to noticeable increases in UV (ultraviolet)" radiation, according to the bulletin, issued on the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) containing chlorine and bromine, have been blamed for thinning the layer because they attack the ozone molecules, causing them to break apart.
Many CFCs, once commonly used in refrigeration, air conditioning and industrial cleaning, were banned by the Vienna Convention, signed exactly 20 years ago, and its Montreal Protocol clinched in 1987.
Most scientists say the hole spanned a record 29 million sq km (11 million sq miles) in September 2003, exposing the southern tip of South America.
"You could say that the ozone situation is stabilizing at a low level. We are approaching the maximum of ozone depletion, it is kind of leveling off, but it is still too early to say that the situation is improving," Braathen said.
In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the 189 states to have ratified the Montreal Protocol had eliminated more than 1.5 million tonnes of annual production of chemicals that destroy the ozone layer.
But developing countries were "only at the half-way point in many of their obligations" under the pact, while in wealthy countries a number of chemicals still needed to be phased out.
"It is essential that we remain alert to this hazard to avoid an increase in skin cancers, cataracts and other health threats," Annan said.
This undated photo shows polar stratospheric clouds lit from below near Kiruna, in Sweden. Polar stratospheric clouds, long known to play an important role in Antarctic ozone destruction, are occurring with increasing frequency in the Arctic. As high altitude clouds that form only at very low temperatures, they act as 'breeding grounds' for ozone-destroying molecules. (HO/NASA/Lamont Poole GN/jp/Reuters)
We're all gonna die!
So maybe the planet does this...I don't know...IRRESPECTIVE of what we humans can do to it?
HA! Had you didn't I! Oh, we all know that this was caused by Haliburton/Bush/Karl Rove, more than 20 years ago...they are THAT good at making conspiracies. < /sarcasm>
So in otherwords we were better off with flourocarbon sprays because the more we cut back, the bigger the hole gets! PEOPLE WE NEED TO POLLUTE MORE!!!
what a confusing pile of gooblygook..first it is record size..then it has not grown..then it is no bigger than in 2000 and 2003..then it is said to be leveling off..blahblahblah...lol
There. I just made it worse...
"U.S. scientists reported last month that the ozone layer has stopped shrinking but it will take decades to start recovering."
What?!
If they didn't know that our efforts would be 'fruitless' 20 years later, how do they know that it will take decades to shrink; or if it will at all?
I call "B" as in "B"
And "S" as in "S".
reading comprehension?
Why are we screwing around and spending money rebuilding New Orleans if we are all doomed anyway? First John Roberts and now this. Like the above poster said, "We're all gonna die!"
I guess if we plugged the hole then there would be nothing to complain about.
1. A blue gaseous allotrope of oxygen, O3, formed naturally from diatomic oxygen by electric discharge or exposure to ultraviolet radiation. It is an unstable, powerfully bleaching, poisonous oxidizing agent with a pungent, irritating odor, used to deodorize air, purify water, treat industrial wastes and as a bleach.
Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
I'm confuzed!
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and thru it all FR has been there. :)
FR Search Results FoR ..
So how DO you spell China?
"Antarctic hole..."
Sounds a little like "put that where the sun don't shine!"
You mean it's not at 'record size' already? I thought the hole in the OZONE layer was larger than it had ever been and expanding every day. I thought the end of the world was at hand. And NOW you tell me it's not even at record size, yet? Well I guess I'll have to stop backing the Global Warming/KYOTO will save the world crowd...
As little or no sunlight has hit the Antarctica for the past several months, one could conclude why the ozone hole has grown.
I would expect to see a similar article regarding the Arctic Circle in March 2006.
Of course, the first time they looked for the hole, it was there. It may will have been there for the last million years.
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