Originally Posted by MJZiggy
Ahh someone who gets it.
Do we believe Proffesional Scientists or " the George Bush Administration " and BIG Business... like Exxon ?
The response to that is..
all to clear.
ESA satellite finds record loss of ozone over Antarctic
03/10/2006 9:30:15 PM
Measurements of the ozone layer over Antarctica by a European satellite have shown a record loss in the shield that protects the Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays.
CBC News
The ozone hole is nearly as wide as it was in 2000 and nearly as deep as it was in 1998, the European Space Agency said Monday. The record loss was reached because these dimensions occurred at the same time.
The ESA's Envisat measured a total ozone loss of 40 million tonnes, beating the record of 39 million tonnes set in 2000.
"Such significant ozone loss requires very low temperatures in the stratosphere combined with sunlight," ESA atmospheric engineer Claus Zehner said in a statement.
The ozone layer is the part of the atmosphere 25 kilometres up that acts as a shield protecting life on Earth from damaging UV rays, which can cause sunburns, skin cancer and cataracts. The rays can also harm marine life.
The ozone layer has decreased globally by about 0.3 per cent per year. The loss is seen as a hole over the South Pole because of atmospheric and wind conditions during the southern winter.
The hole grows during the winter, peaking in the southern spring, and is seen until the summer in November or December.
The ozone layer is broken down into oxygen by pollutants in the atmosphere such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
CFCs were banned under the Montreal Protocol in 1987, but are still seen in the atmosphere.
In August, the U.N. Environment Programme said the ozone layer could return to pre-1980 levels by 2049 over much of the world, but it would take until 2065 to restore the shield over Antarctica.
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