Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jon Shanklin (L-R), the authors of the 1985 paper in which the Antarctic ozone hole was first documented. Here they are pictured with a Dobson ozone spectrophotometer, used to determine stratospheric ozone concentrations. Credit: British Antarctic Survey.
When it comes to the duration of problems in our world’s atmosphere, the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole are the long and the short of it. “The ozone hole went from barely detectable to 50% depletion in around a decade, showing just how fragile our planet is,” explains Jon Shanklin, head of the British Antarctic Survey‘s Meteorology and Ozone Monitoring Unit. “Climate change is expected to proceed more slowly, however we are committing ourselves to changes that will last for many centuries, rather than the single century that should see the ozone layer back to normal.” Read the rest of this entry »
