Ozone hole larger, lasting longer, U.N. agency says
SourceAssociated Press
GENEVA--The ozone hole over the South Pole, already as large as it has ever been, is also lasting longer this year, heightening concern about harmful UV radiation reaching the Earth, the United Nations' weather organization said Friday.
Compounding matters, the thinnest area is the largest ever measured, roughly two-thirds of the hole's total size, the World Meteorological Organization said.
"The ozone hole is getting larger, deeper and is lasting longer," said Michael Proffitt, a leading expert on the ozone hole at the U.N. agency. "It has never stayed this large, this late."
The "hole" is a thinner-than-normal area in the protective layer of gas high in the earth's atmosphere. It has formed in August, the end of the Antarctic winter, every year since the mid-1980s, largely because of chemical pollution.
In recent years, the hole has tended to reach its maximum size around mid-September, after which it mostly gets refilled with surrounding ozone.
But this year the hole peaked twice, once in mid-September and again in late September, the WMO said.
Each time it measured 10.8 million square miles, matching the record size set three years ago in September 2000.
The hole could last longer still, Proffitt said.
"There is certainly no indication it is getting smaller," he said. "It looks like it could be awhile."
Reduction of the ozone layer can let harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun reach the Earth's surface. Too much UV radiation can cause skin cancer and destroy tiny plants at the beginning of the food chain.
The World Meteorological Organization said although the large ozone hole is persisting, UV intensity over Antarctica will remain low until the sun rises higher in the Southern Hemisphere spring.