UN agency reports first signs of Antarctic ozone depletion this year

19:04, 25 August 2011

NEW YORK. August 25. KAZINFORM Signs of ozone depletion are again appearing over the Antarctic, the United Nations reported on Aug 23, adding that prevailing temperatures and polar stratospheric clouds indicate that the degree of ozone loss this year will most likely be about average in comparison to the past decade.

However, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) noted that it is still too early to make a definitive statement on the level of depletion of ozone - which serves as a shield to protect life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays - for 2011.

In Antarctica, the so-called ozone hole is an annually recurring winter/spring phenomenon due to the existence of extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere and the presence of ozone-depleting substances.

Despite international progress in cutting production and consumption of ozone-depleting chemicals, they have a long atmospheric lifetime and it will take several decades before their concentrations are back to pre-1980 levels, according to the WMO's first Antarctic Ozone Bulletin for this year.

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