A Discussion of the Antarctic Ozone Recovery

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

Antarctic ozone recovery will be a long and bumpy road

http://theconversation.com/antarctic-ozone-recovery-will-be-a-long-and-bumpy-road-22429

This article begins by giving a general summary of the issues surrounding ozone depletion like: CFCs, the Montreal Protocol and Dobson Units. These are topics that chapter 2 of our book covers in depth. Then, they discuss the limitations of Dobson Units and mention that improvements have been made in the ways and devices we use to measure ozone concentration.

In the second half of the article, they discuss the recovery of the ozone hole. A trend of recovery can be seen throughout the measurements taken, but due to wind and other factors, levels of ozone vary each year. Examples are given where ozone measured less at the end of the summer season than in the previous year, leading some to mistake this as digression. However, there is likely just less ozone to start with that year, and so less total ozone was lost over the season. Over all, ozone levels are consistently increasing and recovery is likely around 2070.

Image from: http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/02-is-the-ozone-hole-shrinking#.UuhSvhb0Bdg