Antarctic ozone hole may have peaked, UN agency says

[the reporter]

GENEVA (Reuters) - Depletion of the ozone layer above Antarctica, caused by emissions of industrial chemicals, seems to have peaked, indicating that global environmental pacts were working, U.N. scientists said on Tuesday.

The seasonal hole above the South Pole and Antarctica is now shrinking after falling short of the record years of 2003 and 2000, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its latest bulletin.

It peaked at 26.9 million sq kms on September 19, it said, against 29 million sq km in September 2003, which most scientists say was the record.

"It is the third largest ever, more or less as one would expect from present levels of chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere," Geir Braathen, WMO's top ozone expert, told a news briefing.

"It doesn't look as if the ozone hole is going to get any bigger (in coming years). It seems like we have reached a plateau...," he added.

Chlorofluorcarbons (CFCs) containing chlorine and bromine are blamed for thinning the earth's protective layer -- which filters harmful ultraviolet radiation that can cause skin cancer and cataracts.

They were banned 20 years ago under the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol of 1987.

"As the amount of chlorine and bromine will continue to decline over the next decades, but very slowly, one expects the ozone hole to get smaller and smaller," Braathen said.

But uncertainties remained regarding the pace of the ozone's recovery, according to the Norwegian expert.

"At the same time there is this issue of climate change which will lead to higher temperature on the ground -- the globe is warming up -- but in the stratosphere temperatures will decrease. That will encourage more ozone loss in the Arctic and the Antarctic," he added.

[mgopilot]

I am glad, and anticipated that it would not play a big part in the 2050 crash scenario. Continued ozone depletion was a very scary thing, and thus the international cooperation. Alternatives were easier than with the fossil fuel and growth only world economy addiction.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by mgopilot

Continued ozone depletion was a very scary thing, and thus the international cooperation. Alternatives were easier than with the fossil fuel and growth only world economy addiction.

Some people still resisted until the bitter end though. I remember some people in the US Government insisting that it was too expensive to fix and everyone would just have to go around wearing hats and sunglasses.

[mgopilot]

Originally Posted by TheRobster

Some people still resisted until the bitter end though. I remember some people in the US Government insisting that it was too expensive to fix and everyone would just have to go around wearing hats and sunglasses.

I remember, and we DO still have to wear sunglasses, sunscreen of high enough number, or a hat and long sleeves. The ozone layer will still be thin for some time, and there are violating countries. I worked outside and could really tell the difference over the years. I am lucky I didn't get skin cancer like several of my friends. It had a profound effect on some animals' immune systems, like frogs. Some soil bacteria strains went extinct.
I remember the biggest worry was the die off of ocean plankton, the source of over half our oxygen and the needed bottom of the food chain.
That the hole is getting smaller is an indication of the success in one area of the "environmental movement". Global, whereas the rest of the successes are more local, and often only temporary because of the increase in people.