ozone depletion

Stratospheric ozone depletion is a concern because the ozone layer in the stratosphere keeps 95-99% of the suns ultraviolet radiation from striking the earth. A number of consequences can result from increased levels of UV(ultraviolet radiation) striking the earth, including: genetic damage, eye damage and damage to marine life. Increased UV radiation in the lower atmosphere, called the troposphere, can result in increased amounts of photochemical smog. Photochemical smog is already a health hazard in many of the world's largest cities.

The decrease of stratospheric ozone was first reported in 1974 and the decrease was quickly linked to the increasing presence of a class of manmade compounds called CFC's or Chlorofluorocarbons. Many countries of the world have moved to reduce the use of CFC's but because of the slow rate of air mixing between the lower and upper atmosphere it is theorized that stratospheric CFC's will stay at a significant level well into the next century.

Stratospheric ozone depletion has become very much a controversial political and economic issue as well as a complex scientific issue. Major and minor sources of chlorine, and factors which affect ozone levels are still being sorted out among a great deal of media-generated excitement and misinformation; but the link between CFC's and Ozone depletion, and the major factors creating the antarctic ozone hole, are considered by most researchers to be well established facts. Scientific models of the atmosphere are being constructed in order to assist scientists in looking for other factors in Ozone depletion, evaluate their importance and predict what may happen to our atmosphere in the future.