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Ozone Layer Depletion, Its Causes and Its Effects
Ozone Layer Depletion, Its Causes and Its Effects
DEPLETION
1. Why the hole in the atmospheric ozone layer
above us?
2. What has been done about this?
3. Why should I worry ourselves about the
Ozone Layer Depletion?
Good life at the beach threatened?
www.epcc.pref.osaka.jp/apec/
What is Ozone? Ozone Layer?
Ozone (O3) is a highly-reactive from of oxygen.
Unlike oxygen (O2), ozone has a strong scent and is
blue in color.
Ozone exists within both the tropospheric and
stratospheric zones of the Earth’s atmosphere
In the troposphere, ground level ozone is a major air
pollutant and primary constituent of photochemical
smog
In the stratosphere, the ozone layer is an essential
protector of life on earth as it absorbs harmful UV
radiation before it reaches the earth.
Hole Formation Based on Two different
mechanisms:
Meteorological
mechanism
• Movement of air from
one place to another in
the upper stratosphere
• Cold temperature in
the upper atmosphere
causes nitric acid to
freeze into crystals
forming wispy pink
clouds
• Forms a vortex of
tightly twisted winds
thus forming a hole in
the upper atmosphere
Chemical
Mechanism
• 16 – 35 km (above bkgd
level)
• Stratosphere contains about
90% of all atmospheric ozone
• Total column ozone: ~300 DU
(1 DU = 0.3 cm thick layer at
1 atm)
Source: NASA
Ozone hole in Southern hemisphere
October 1979 & 1998