Forgot your password?
New user?
New Window Opens on the Secret Life of Microbes: Scientists Develop First Microbial Profiles of Ecosystems
Boxer is first dog to have full genome revealed
Press Releases
Press Releases
IBC Training Course: Validation of Analytical Methods
eCheminfo US Autumn 2005 InterAction Meeting
Document Actions
Ozone Hole Recovery May Be Delayed
Scientists predict that 15 extra years may be needed for CFCs' effects to disappear
The seasonal hole in the protective stratospheric ozone layer that appears over Antarctica may take longer to recover than previously anticipated, scientists announced on Dec. 6 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
Based on a combination of new ozone measurements and computer models, they revised the standard estimate of Antarctic ozone recovery from 2050 to 2065—15 years longer than originally predicted.
The production of ozone-depleting chemicals has been banned since 1996, as specified by the Montreal protocol, and global emissions of chlorofluorocarbons dropped 60% between 1989 and 1995.
But stores of the chemicals, which include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and bromine compounds, still exist in sources such as fire extinguishers, automobile air conditioners, and refrigerators—particularly in developing countries that don’t yet have CFC alternatives. These stores, which will continue to be emitted until they are exhausted, may be larger than previously thought, said Dale Hurst, a researcher at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo.
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/83/i50/8350ozone.html