Experts Find U.S.-Sized Antarctic Ozone Hole (take the survey at the link)

[Kadie]

Experts Find U.S.-Sized Antarctic Ozone Hole

POSTED: 2:10 pm PDT October 19, 2006
UPDATED: 2:49 pm PDT October 19, 2006

WASHINGTON -- This year's Antarctic ozone hole is the biggest ever, government scientists said Thursday.

The so-called hole is a region where there is severe depletion of the layer of ozone - a form of oxygen - in the upper atmosphere that protects life on Earth by blocking the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Scientists say human-produced gases such as bromine and chlorine damage the layer, causing the hole. That's why many compounds such as spray-can propellants have been banned in recent years.

"From Sept. 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. That's larger than the area of North America.

more...
http://www.kcra.com/technology/10114933/detail.html




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[ClassWarrior]

1. Lord help us.

Amen.

NGU.

[htuttle]

2. Hey, isn't the ocean down there where all those phytoplankton live?

We need those, don't we? I know the baleen whales do...