First signs of Antarctic ozone depletion in 2011

Unpublished

Signs of ozone depletion are again appearing over the Antarctic, the World Meteorological Organisation reported recently, adding that prevailing temperatures and polar stratospheric clouds indicate that the degree of ozone loss this year will most likely be about average in comparison to the past decade.

However, the WMO noted that it was still too early to make a definitive statement on the level of depletion of ozone – which serves as a shield to protect life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays – for 2011.

In Antarctica, the so-called ozone hole is an annually recurring winter/spring phenomenon due to the existence of extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere and the presence of ozone-depleting substances.

Despite international progress in cutting production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals, they have a long atmospheric lifetime and it will take several decades before their concentrations are back to pre-1980 levels, according to the WMO’s first Antarctic Ozone Bulletin for this year.

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