News Shorts and Other Busyness

Ozone Hole Doubles In A Year!

Squall 11, Autumn 1995, pg. 6.

The ozone hole over the southern hemisphere has doubled in the last year and is now the size of all Europe, warned the UN’s weather agency in September.

Research conducted by members of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) also found that high altitude ozone over Europe and North America has dropped 10-15% since depletion was first recorded in the eighties. The research blames the phenomenon of the effect of man-made chemicals.

Rumen Bojkov from the WMO warned that every one per cent drop in ozone means roughly a 1.4% increase in ultra violet radiation. With each 1% increase in UV there is considered to be a correspondent 2% increase in the chances of skin cancer and eye cataracts.

Whilst ozone has been steadily decreasing over Antarctica in the last ten years, dramatic decreases have also been recently recorded over the Arctic Circle. Latest figures from the European Stratospheric Arctic and Mid Latitude Experiment show ozone loss at 18kms altitude over the Arctic Vortex reached up to 1.5% a day! The figures show that by March, ozone levels had fallen by 50%. Over some places in Siberia, the ozone screen had been reduced by 35% and large doses of ultraviolet-B radiation were measured on the ground. Warnings abound.