The latest data imply that the ozone layer over some regions, including the northernmost
parts of the US, Canada, Europe and Russia, could be temporarily depleted in the late
winter and early spring by as much as 40%, which means the condidtion is far worse than
previously believed. The effects of a hole, or holes, in the ozone are discussed.
Copyright Time Incorporated Feb 17, 1992
Full Text:
What does it mean to redefine one's relationship to the sky? hat will it do to our children's
outlook on life we have to teach them to be afraid to look up?
--Senator Al Gore, Earth in the Balance
The world now knows that danger is shining through the sky. The evidence is
overwhelming that the earth's stratospheric ozone layer--our shield against the sun's
hazardous ultraviolet rays--is being eaten away by man-made chemicals far faster than
any scientist had predicted. No longer is the threat just to our future; the threat is here and
now. Ground zero is not just the South Pole anymore; ozone holes could soon open over
heavily populated regions in the northern hemisphere as well as the southern. This
unprecedented assault on the planet's life-support system could have horrendous longterm effects on human health, animal life, the plants that support the food chain and just
about every other strand that makes up the delicate web of nature. And it is too late to
prevent the damage, which will worsen for years to come. The best the world can hope
for is to stabilize ozone loss soon after the turn of the century.
If any doubters remain, their ranks dwindled last week. The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, along with scientists from several institutions, announced startling
findings from atmospheric studies done by a modified spy-plane and an orbiting satellite.
As the two craft crossed the northern skies last month, they discovered record-high
concentrations of chlorine monoxide (CIO), a chemical by-product of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) known to be the chief agents of ozone destruction.
Although the results were preliminary, they were so disturbing that NASA went public a
month earlier than planned, well before the investigation could be completed. Previous
studies had already shown that ozone levels have declined 4% to 8% over the northern
hemisphere in the past decade. But the latest data imply that the ozone layer over some
regions, including the northernmost parts of the U.S., Canada, Europe and Russia, could
be temporarily depleted in the late winter and early spring by as much as 40%. That
would be almost as bad as the 50% ozone loss recorded over Antarctica. If a huge
northern ozone hole does not in fact open up in 1992, it could easily do so a year or two
later. Says Michael Kurylo, NASA's manager of upper-atmosphere research: "Everybody
should be alarmed about this. It's far worse than we thought.