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Satellites
Spot Developing Antarctic Ozone "Hole"
New
satellite images show the depleted region of ozone known as the ozone "hole"
that develops each year over Antarctica has reached about the same magnitude as
those of the past several years. This year's preliminary satellite data show that
as of early September, ozone hole area was in excess of 20 million square kilometers
(8 million square miles), about twice the size of the contiguous United States.
Last year the geographic area covered by the ozone hole was one of the largest
on record and ozone depletion started earlier than usual. By early October, additional
data will provide a more complete picture of the extent and intensity of this
year's ozone hole over Antarctica. Click
on links below for animations.
2001
ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE
This sequence shows the evolution of the 2001 Antarctic ozone "hole".
Purple colors indicate very low levels of ozone and red colors show higher levels
of ozone. Ozone forms a layer that surrounds and protects the Earth from the harmful
effects of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Excessive amounts of UV radiation
can damage important plant and animal life on Earth and in the oceans as well
as contribute to increases in skin cancer and cataracts in humans. Data for these
image sequences was collected by NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS),
currently aboard the Earth Probe satellite.
SUPER:
NASA / NOAA
A
TREND TOWARDS LARGER LOSSES
The following animation shows how ozone loss at the south pole has grown since
the mid-80s. Early readings over Antarctica indicate little or no ozone depletion
beyond naturally predicted levels. But as the 80s and 90s progress, a clear change
in atmospheric chemistry takes place at the bottom of the world. The hole starts
small in the late 80s and spreads as subsequent winter cycles break apart ozone
molecules. SUPER:
NASA / NOAA
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