ozone is an invisible upper atmospheric
gas that protects all forms of life on
earth for most of the sun's damaging
radiation
radiation that can cause skin cancer eye
damage and suppression of the immune
system
the harvesting of fish and plant life
are also affected
a vast amount of aquatic life has its
beginnings in the oceans near antarctica
false color imagery of the south pole
from nasa's nimbus-7 satellite provides
scientists with a road map of daily
changes in the ozone
by tracking this imagery for the past
nine years they have discovered a trend
each spring over antarctica a hole in
the ozone develops and it has been
getting larger year by year
to date as much as 50 to 60 percent of
the ozone in this area has been lost
these discoveries prompted a coordinated
series of antarctic ozone experiments
including some 150 scientists and
engineers from nasa the national oceanic
and atmospheric administration national
science foundation and industry worked
together for four months to study this
alarming environmental issue
scientists used ground-based instruments
and launched balloon-borne payloads to
sample air chemistry at mcmurdo station
in antarctica
at the same time nasa's dc-8 flying
laboratory studied the lower atmosphere
making long missions from punta arenas
chile into the area of ozone depletion
nasa's high-flying er-2 plane carrying a
single pilot and a handful of sampling
instruments flew directly into a layer
of atmosphere where the ozone was
depleted
a number of activities contributing to
ozone loss have been pinpointed by the
scientific and policy community
no longer do canned aerosol products
contain chlorofluorocarbons or cfcs but
these harmful gases still get into the
atmosphere because they are used as
refrigerants fire retardants foam
blowing agents and solvents
as long as this persists ozone will
continue to be lost
initial findings from the summer's ozone
expedition verify that there is a
complex interplay between cfcs
chlorine-containing gases and the
meteorology in certain parts of the
world
ice crystals in the upper atmosphere
convert the gases into a by-product that
destroys ozone
these ice crystals usually only form in
the atmosphere of the south pole because
it gets so cold this may explain why
other parts of the world aren't
dramatically affected by the depletion
scientists still do not understand all
the mechanisms of change but thanks to
the work of so many we will soon have a
more complete understanding of ozone
loss and its threat to the world
environment
in the early 1990s a new generation of
atmospheric satellites will probe even
further into the problem
you