Skip to main content

NOAA and NASA Report Ozone Hole Over Antarctic Getting A Little Smaller And Improving

 


Ozone is a form of oxygen that shows up in our atmosphere. Instead of two atoms bound together, which is the form we breath, this is three atoms that bind under certain circumstances. The contradiction is that it is toxic for us to inhale, but is vital to protecting life on Earth.





The toxic form of ozone is a form of pollution that occurs more commonly in the summer when pollution interacts with high angle sunlight and high temperatures. This is also one component of smog. This is why we have ‘Ozone Action Days’ sometimes during a heat wave.

The essential form of ozone is much higher in the sky in the stratosphere. This is above the weather portion of our sky and above the normal flight path of commercial planes between 10 and about 30 miles above the ground. 

This is a more natural location for that molecule, where it serves to block harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Without it, most life on our planet could not exist.  So basically, we need this.




The hole in the ozone layer is actually a naturally occurring annual cycle, especially over the Antarctic where extremes of sun and darkness are met with a closed circulation aided by oceans surrounding the ‘bottom of the globe’.

In 1987, The Montreal Protocol was an international agreement banning the production of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These are refrigerants that were used air conditioners, but also shown to traverse the globe and break down the ‘good’ ozone facilitation the expanding Ozone Hole. It was phased out in the US in 1995, however CFCs can last in the atmosphere between 44 and 140 years.

 

Recovering Ozone Layer?

Monitoring the Ozone Hole fluctuation has been a major environmental priority, and it appears this past year brings some good news, shrinking about 10% in 2022.

 

From NOAA:

The hole over Antarctica had an average area of 8.91 million square miles (23.1 million square kilometers). That measurement is slightly smaller than the extent of 8.99 million square miles (23.3 million square kilometers) reached last year, and well below the average seen in 2006 when the hole size peaked.




Here, a NOAA ozonesonde — an instrument used to help scientists monitor the Antarctic ozone hole — ascends over the South Pole in this time-lapse photo taken October 21, 2020. (Courtesy of Yuya Makino/IceCube)

Comments

  1. Environmental Chemistry StudentsOctober 26, 2022 at 11:07 AM

    Informative. It is important that we the inhabitants of this small blue planet make every effort to care for our home. It really isn't just about you and I, but we should spare a thought for our children and their children. When we this generation choses to wreck our planet where will we they live?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Health crisis looms as Portmore residents dispose of garbage in lagoon

There is a health and environmental crisis developing in a section of Portmore, St. Catherine following the revelation that some residents in Edgewater have resorted to disposing of their garbage in the lagoon.   A resident of Edgewater, Rodney Davy, told  Radio Jamaica News  that for more than one month, no garbage has been collected.   Mr. Davy said some residents dump the garbage in the lagoon or pay to have it done.    "We have seen garbage trucks pass but they have not stopped so far.... If you go by [the lagoon], there are tons of garbage down there because people have to find other ways and means to dispose of their garbage," he disclosed.    Member of Parliament for St. Catherine South Eastern Robert Miller is appealing to the residents to desist from this practice.    "We understand that the state have [sic] a duty to collect your solid waste, but we encourage you not to litter our surrounding, not to damage our environment, bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Plastic Problem - A PBS NewsHour Documentary

  Click here to watch PBS NewsHour Documentary - The Plastic Problem By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. It’s an environmental crisis that’s been in the making for nearly 70 years. Plastic pollution is now considered one of the largest environmental threats facing humans and animals globally. In “The Plastic Problem: PBS NewsHour Presents”, Amna Nawaz and her PBS NewsHour colleagues look at this now ubiquitous material and how it’s impacting the world, why it’s become so prevalent, what’s being done to mitigate its use, and what potential alternatives or solutions are out there. This hour-long program travels from Boston to Seattle, Costa Rica to Easter Island to bring the global scale of the problem to light. From an expert on the world’s garbage patches to an industrial ecologist who quantified exactly how much plastic has ever been produced, Nawaz tracks how the world is grappling with plastic. She also sits down with two of the world’s biggest plastic pr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Charcoal sales more lucrative at Christmastime, but officials warn against the many dangers

  By Romardo Lyons Charcoal burning is hailed as a dependable source of income by those who do it, especially at Christmastime when there is increased demand. Officials maintain and warn that not only is the practice illegal, but it poses serious threats to the environment, which is home to over 300 endemic species of trees, as at 2021. Jamaica is now only 30 per cent (336,000 hectares) forested lands, with the rate of deforestation being about 350 hectares per year – another reason why officials shun charcoal burning. But a St Thomas-based vendor said he chops thousands of wood to burn from 50 to 100 bags of charcoal from coal kilns, and described it is an easy job. "It take me all two weeks fi done everything. I get the wood from anywhere in woodland… anywhere mi can find some wood. But it depends on the size and the amount of wood. If it is a big kiln, I can get 50, 100 bag of coal from it when everything done. Me hear sehh we nuffi cut down tree and dem thing deh. It look like...
Post a Comment
Read more