Ozone Hole Forms Earlier In 2007

Dan Shapley / News Editor

The ozone hole is beginning to form earlier than it has in past years, but its size and depth are similar to recent years, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The ozone hole forms over Antarctica in the upper atmosphere, allowing harmful radiation from the sun to stream to earth, each year around this time and lasts for about four months. NASA

The depletion of the ozone layer was a defining environmental issue of the 1980s, and the world reacted to the worsening conditions in the upper atmosphere by banning the use of many chemicals that were then common. The chlorofluorocarbon, or CFC gases from refrigerants and aerosols were phased out starting in 1990. The level of CFCs detected in the lower atmosphere peaked in 1995, and in the Antarctic stratosphere in 2001, but though industrialized nations stopped producing most CFCs in 1996, and developing nations stopped in 2006, the ozone hole reached its greatest ever recorded area -- the size of North America -- in 2006.

CFCs last in the atmosphere for about 40 years, and while the United Nations expects incremental improvement, the ozone layer isn''t expected to fully repair until 2036, according to some NASA estimates. The depletion of the ozone layer, and the world's reaction, in some ways was a test case for the fight against global warming. The chemicals that cause the damage were much less pervasive than those that cause global warming -- carbon dioxide, after all, comes from burning just about anything. But despite the larger challenge, the world's ability to come together to reverse an environmental problem offers hope -- and a caution. Even solutions take time to show results.

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