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September 12, 2003
Well, that sucks
CNN.com - Report: Antarctic ozone hole sets record - Sep. 12, 2003
The hope was that we'd turned a corner after last year, when the hole shrunk, and that the efforts to prevent ozone destruction were finally bearing fruit. Now scientists are hoping that depletion is at least near its peak.
Posted by Mac Thomason at September 12, 2003 12:51 PM
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Comments
It'd be amusing if it turns out that an ozone hole in the antarctic is the natural state of the upper atmosphere there, and any years where none was detected were the exceptions.
Very, very amusing.
Posted by: Sigivald at September 12, 2003 04:20 PM
Ozone depletion isn't restricted to the Antartic; it's thinned since we've started measuring everywhere. And if large ozone holes were common, I find it unlikely that complex land animals would ever have developed.
Posted by: Mac Thomason at September 12, 2003 04:47 PM
Hmm... maybe the periods of extremely thin ozone layers coincides with natural mass extinctions that occurred throughout history, before humans ever existed.
Not that we can ever find out, of course. Not until we've been observing the ozone layer for a couple million years...
Posted by: Tatterdemalian at September 12, 2003 09:01 PM
Those mass extinctions hit water-dwelling animals, too, even deep-sea creatures.
Posted by: Mac Thomason at September 12, 2003 11:33 PM