Ozone Hole Over Antarctica Has Shrunk, Split in Two | ![]() |
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![]() WASHINGTON — The ozone hole over Antarctica is markedly smaller this year than in the last few years and has split in two, government scientists reported Monday.
The so-called "hole," actually an area of thinner than normal ozone, was measured at 6 million square miles (15.6 million square kilometers) in September. That compares with around 9 million square miles (23.4 million square kilometers) on September measurements over the last six years, according to researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Aeronautics and Space Agency. Click here for larger version of diagram. While ozone at ground level is considered a pollutant, the layer of ozone high in the stratosphere is vital to life because it blocks dangerous radiation coming from the sun. Thinning of the ozone layer could lead to a rise in skin cancer, experts warn. Aerosols and other chemicals are blamed for the thinning, and treaties banning those ingredients are expected to help the layer recover over time. This year's improvement was attributed to warmer than normal temperatures around the edge of the polar vortex, or circular wind pattern that forms annually in the stratosphere over Antarctica, according to Paul Newman, a lead ozone researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Craig Long, a meteorologist at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, said the stratosphere over the southern hemisphere was unusually disturbed this year by the wind, causing the hole to split into two separate holes. In 2001 the Antarctic ozone hole reached a maximum size of more than 10.2 million square miles,(26.5 million kilometers) larger than the entire area of North America, including the United States, Canada and Mexico combined. In the year 2000, it briefly approached 11.5 million square miles(30 million square kilometers). The last time the ozone hole was as small as it is this year was in 1988, and that was also due to warm temperatures. Newman explained that while "chlorine and bromine chemicals cause the ozone hole, the temperature is also a key factor in ozone loss." The coldest temperatures over the South Pole occur in August and September. Thin clouds form in these cold conditions, and chemical reactions on the cloud particles help chlorine and bromine gases to rapidly destroy ozone. By early October, temperatures typically start to warm and the ozone layer starts to recover. An Australian study published two weeks ago reported that chlorine-based chemical levels in the atmosphere are falling, and the hole in the ozone layer should close within 50 years. Although the ozone layer has not yet begun to repair itself, the hole would probably start closing within five years, said Paul Fraser, of the Australian government-funded Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, or CSIRO. Ozone in the air overhead is measured in Dobson Units. The ozone hole is the area with total column ozone below 220 Dobson Units, as measured by satellites and balloon-borne ozone measuring instruments launched from the South Pole station. In the tropics, ozone levels are typically between 250 and 300 Dobson Units year-round. In temperate regions, seasonal variations can produce large swings in ozone levels, reaching as high as 475 Dobson Units in some areas, and as low as 300. A reading of 100 Dobson Units means that if all the ozone in the air above a point were brought down to sea-level pressure and cooled to freezing it would form a layer 1 centimeter thick. At that scale a reading of 250 Dobson Units translates to a layer about an inch thick. |
Larger version of figure shown above:
UNTA
ARENAS, Chile — Everything is different here at the bottom of the world,
starting with the weather. Before Alejandra Mundaca lets her two children go
out, she checks the forecast for the temperature, chances of rain and also the
level of ultraviolet rays.
For the last decade the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has been forming earlier in the Southern Hemisphere spring and growing larger. The 125,000 residents of the southernmost city on the planet, here on the Strait of Magellan, have reluctantly learned to adapt.
They closely watch the color-coded warnings of a "solar stoplight" publicized on television and radio and even posted on street corners here. Even on warm days, most people insist on wearing jackets or long-sleeved shirts or blouses. Many wear sunglasses and make sure to apply 50-proof sunblock even when the sky is blanketed in clouds.
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A
"solar stoplight" in Punta Arenas announces an orange alert,
the second highest of four levels, and warns people to limit their
exposure to the sun between noon and 3 p.m. to a maximum of 21 minutes. |
"Life has changed a lot for us over the past few years, and I know that my sons are not going to be able to enjoy the same kind of childhood that I had growing up here," said Ms. Mundaca, 33, a schoolteacher. "We used to look forward to spring as relief from the long harsh winter, but now it is a time of maximum peril for all of us who live here."
The ozone layer is a thin covering of gas in the stratosphere that absorbs most of the sun's ultraviolet rays. Since scientists first discovered the hole over Antarctica in the mid-1980's, it has nearly doubled in size and now covers an area larger than North America during the Southern Hemisphere spring. The arms of the hole occasionally extend as far as southern Chile and Argentina, depending on wind patterns.
On a typical day here this month, the solar stoplight was set at orange, the second highest of four levels, and people were warned to limit their exposure to the sun between noon and 3 p.m. to 21 minutes at most.
"When the light is red, I don't let my kids go out to play at all," Liliana Navarro Torres said, referring to Kimberley, 6, and Jonathan, 4. "They don't like it much, and sometimes it drives me crazy to have them running around the house, but that's the way it has to be when you live here."
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In
Punta Arenas, Chile, where residents have learned to adapt to the hole
in the ozone layer, a woman and her child are bundled up against the sun
beside a monument honoring Ferdinand Magellan. |
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In
the city's schools, the children are taught how to protect themselves
against ultraviolet rays. |
The growth of the ozone hole is attributed largely to chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC's, that were widely used in aerosol sprays and refrigerants until an agreement in 1987 to phase them out. But scientists also think that global warming may be contributing to the phenomenon.
During much of the 1990's there was resistance here to accepting signs that the risks to people were growing. The warnings of scientists like Bedrich Magas of Magallanes University, one of the first to emphasize the potential dangers, were dismissed by local boosters who feared a drop in tourism.
But that changed in September 2000, when the ozone hole opened directly over Punta Arenas. The Socialist government responded with a far-reaching prevention and education program that has become visible everywhere.
"It's a new way of living," said Lidia Amarales Osorno, the Chilean Health Ministry's regional director here. "You'll see the solar stoplight posted in supermarkets, offices and schools, and we even have an Ozone Brigade to raise consciousness about this problem."
In elementary schools, a giant penguin named Paul leads a permanent campaign to teach children the steps they need to take to protect themselves. Many schools also hoist a flag each morning to alert their pupils' families of the expected level of ultraviolet rays, and in some poor neighborhoods, skin creams are even distributed free to youngsters.
"But the truth is that there is only so much that we can do here ourselves," Dr. Amarales said.
This year, to everyone's bafflement, the situation has been relatively mild. The ozone hole split in two for only the second time since monitoring began, with only the smaller part passing over Punta Arenas, winds have been calmer than usual, and the hole has begun to retract earlier than usual.
But scientists here warn that the problem may persist until the middle of the century and is likely to worsen through the decade.
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Punta
Arenas, the planet's most southern city, needs sunblock. |
The laboratory here has also reported the appearance of smaller ozone holes in central Chile, and health officials say that the incidence of melanoma, the most common form of skin cancer, in Santiago, the country's capital, increased by 105 percent between 1992 and 1998.
Because solar radiation reaches the ground at a more acute angle here than places farther north, Punta Arenas may actually be at less risk than other parts of Chile.
But this time of year, atmospheric scientists from all over the world flock here anyway, drawn by the opportunity to study a rare and little-understood phenomenon. Their presence, rather than reassuring residents, only adds to their sense of unease.
"We feel like we are rabbits in a laboratory experiment," said Ivan Mansilla Vera, 36, an engineer and father of two young children. "Nobody knows what is going to happen to us."
overnment
scientists have measured a significant drop in atmospheric levels of methyl
bromide, a versatile pesticide that is being phased out of use because it
damages the planet's protective ozone layer.
The scientists say the drop, 13 percent since 1998, is attributable to mandatory curbs on the chemical under the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 treaty aimed at restoring the layer, which blocks ultraviolet radiation that could otherwise raise cancer rates and harm ecosystems.
The researchers, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, describe the findings in yesterday's issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Methyl bromide, while less common than Freon and other restricted ozone-damaging substances, breaks down in the air and releases bromine, which disperses into the stratosphere and vigorously attacks ozone molecules.
But for decades methyl bromide has also been a popular, cheap means of sterilizing soils, grain silos and shipments of perishable goods.
Environmentalists welcomed the new findings but expressed concern about recent proposals by the United States and other countries to continue and expand certain uses of methyl bromide past 2005, when, under the Montreal pact, a ban is to take effect in industrialized countries.
This year the Bush administration is seeking exemptions to the ban on behalf of dozens of strawberry and tomato farmers, golf-course owners and other users of methyl bromide who say no inexpensive alternatives exist.
Federal agriculture officials also want to expand its use in fumigating imported wood packaging and shipping pallets that may contain Asian longhorn beetles or other pests.
But David D. Doniger, a policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the exemptions were unnecessary and would cause a rise in methyl bromide use after a steady drop. A variety of pesticides are listed by the federal government as substitutes for methyl bromide, Dr. Doniger said, adding that fumigation of imported goods could be ended if shippers were required to heat wood to kill pests or switch to other kinds of packaging.
The new study projects continued steep declines in methyl bromide in the air as long as use of the chemical continues to drop.
Those projections do not take into account the possibility of substantial use under exemptions to the Montreal treaty, said Dr. Stephen A. Montzka, the government chemist who led the study.
"Without continued worldwide adherence to the restrictions outlined in the protocol," Dr. Montzka said, "these trends could slow and delay the recovery of stratospheric ozone."