Antarctic Ozone Hole Appearing Earlier Than Usual - May Surpass 2006 Record Size, Reach S. America

[hatrack]

ENEVA (Reuters) - A hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has appeared earlier than usual in 2007, the United Nations weather agency said on Tuesday.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said it would not be clear for several weeks whether the ozone hole, which is expected to continue growing until early October, would be larger than its record size in 2006. "It is still too early to give a definitive statement about the development of this year's ozone hole and the degree of ozone loss that will occur. This will, to a large extent, depend on the meteorological conditions," the Geneva-based agency said.

The ozone layer shields the earth from damaging ultra-violet rays that can cause skin cancer.

EDIT

Geir Braathen, a senior scientific officer with the WMO's atmospheric research and environment programme, said the ozone hole may reach the southern tip of South America in 2007.

EDIT/END

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/22418

[Xithras]

1. The ozone hole is a great object lesson for global warming deniers.

Even though the Montreal Protocol is a success and global CFC production has been slashed by several orders of magnitude, the damage has already been done and there is no way to undo it. Most scientists who research it believe that we still haven't seen the worst of the holes, and that gasses released decades ago are still making their way to the stratosphere and may continue to do so until 2020. The most optomistic estimate I've seen didn't predict a return to pre-industrial ozone levels until 2100 at the EARLIEST, and some research indicates that levels may not normalize for centuries after that.

There's nothing we can do about it at this point either. The damage is done, the chemicals are out there, and there's no taking them back. Keep that in mind the next time a Republican tells you that we shouldn't regulate greenhouse emissions until we see some evidence of "real" damage.