NASA Announces Record Ozone Hole

Drewsk writes "NASA has announced that the ozone hole over the Antarctic has broken all records. From the story: 'From September 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. If the stratospheric weather conditions had been normal, the ozone hole would be expected to reach a size of about 8.9 to 9.3 million square miles, about the surface area of North America.""

Comments

Great

[pete-classic]

So, after a precipitous drop in CFC emissions the problem continues to worsen. Any chance we were duped? If so, any reason I shouldn't assume we're being duped with all the bleating over carbon emissions?

-Peter

Your questions answered

[DiamondGeezer]

1. Stratospheric ozone has nothing whatsoever to do with tropospheric ozone. Stratospheric ozone is formed by cosmic rays hitting oxygen molecules and forming O3 molecules.
2. CFCs have nothing whatsoever to do with stratospheric ozone. Even though a Nobel Prize was given for the supposed link between CFCs and ozone depletion, no-one has ever explained how CFC molecules which are much heavier than air, can rise up in the stratosphere, travel all of the way to Antarctica before being broken down into chlorine and fluorine and reacting the O3
3. The real reasons why ozone is depleted is

a) the temperature above Antarctica has fallen in the last fifty years (and not a single climate model predicted that one) and in the ice clouds that form high in the stratosphere in the early Antarctic spring the temperature drops below -80C. Chlorine in the ice reacts with the ozone.

b) the solar cycle is heading towards a minimum. This decreases the magnetic field, increasing the ozone but also increases production of chlorine.

Bingo! An ozone hole forms over the Antarctica - an entirely natural phenomenon.

Even more bingo! Some eco-warrior claims it must be caused by mankind. Ergo the extremely safe stable CFCs are replaced with benzene, thus turning your refrigerator into a potential BOMB.

Or did I miss something? Weren't we supposed to have solved the ozone problem?