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Ozone Depletion

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The ozone layer is a specific area in the stratosphere of maximum ozone concentration. Ozone in the stratosphere forms naturally and protects us from damage that can be caused by solar radiation such as skin cancer. In the 1970s chemists discovered that certain chemicals could travel into the upper atmosphere and damage the protective ozone. Ever since this was discovered scientists, government, and citizens have been making efforts to control and reverse the damage done to the ozone. In 1987 a treaty called the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed by world leaders who were participating in the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer. Without this protocol the abundances of chlorine would …show more content…

One particular part of the interview that was interesting to me was when the woman, Adele, called in and asked how chlorine commonly used in swimming pools affected the ozone. Russell Schnell told her that chlorine does not make it up into the stratosphere because it is oxidized. The only way that chlorine gets up into the stratosphere is if it is carried up with chemicals that it is bound to. Once it is in the stratosphere the sunlight breaks off the chlorine. I simply assumed that when someone drains their pool at the end of the summer the water would evaporate and the chlorine would then rise up into the stratosphere. From this I know now that chlorine must be bound to other chemicals in order to make it up that far. In 2011 there was record ozone depletion over the Arctic that is far worse than the holes in the Antarctic’s protective atmospheric layer that first appeared in the 1980s. There are concerns that the Northern Hemisphere may periodically experience harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation in the spring. Chemist Geir Braathen said it was “significantly worse than anything we had ever seen.” Typically spring ozone depletions maxes out at 20 to 30 percent drop but in 2011 there was a loss of about 40 percent. In Antarctica 70 percent of ozone can disappear in the spring time. The ozone layer is vital in protecting us from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation.

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