Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 01/15/2008 - 17:11
Forums
Antarctic Weather Stations

Hey Kirk! It's Leslie. I was reading the news a while back and saw something about the ozone somehow being able to fix itself over Antarctica. I was wondering if you were researching anything of that type or can tell me if that is true or false! Thanks!

Tue, 01/15/2008 - 18:57

Kirk Beckendorf

Thanks for the question!!!We are not studying ozone. However that is certainly an important topic.
Computer models are predicting that by mid century century we should  see significant recovery of the ozone layer, some predicitons are predicting a slower recovery. This improvement in the ozone layer is due to the international legislation in 1987 which significantly reduced the worldwide use of CFC's and other chemicals that were causing the ozone layer to be destroyed. I'm not sure if you would call this "fixing itself" or not.
Here is a website that gives alot of information about the ozone layer. Towards the end of the webpage is a section on the predicted future of the ozone layer. Fun chemistry practice. http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/assessments/2006/twentyquestions.html 
 
Here is a graph showing ozone levels at the S Pole since 1967.http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/spo_oz/1220plot.html 
Hope this helps. 
Kirk

Wed, 01/16/2008 - 04:10

Coral King

       Dear Kirk,
 
                          Thats really cool!
                              But what I want to know is when will the ozone
                                     layer that keeps the suns harmful rays
                                     away from us disolve completly? And what
                                     will happen when it dose?

Wed, 01/16/2008 - 10:46

Kirk Beckendorf

The hole in the ozone layer is being caused by the CFC's and some other chemicals that humans have released into the atmosphere. Because of the international agreement that I mentioned to Leslie, the amounts of these chemicals in the atmosphere is decreasing. So, the ozone layer is expected to recover. If the ozone layer did not exist (which is not expected to occur) large amounts of UV rays would reach the Earth's surface. The UV rays from the sun, or from any source, are very harmful to living things. If large amounts of UV reached the surface there would be major consequences to life on Earth.
Hope this helps.
Mr. B.