Why Is the Ozone Hole Over the South Pole?

Man-made pollution continues to destroy a very important part of the earth's atmosphere: the ozone layer. The ozone layer has protected the earth's populace from harmful cosmic rays for billions of years.

History

• In May 1985, a British Antarctic Survey team of Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin finished a study finding that Antarctic ozone had dropped 10 percent from the normal ozone thickness for the area, according to TheOzoneHole.com.

Significance

• TheOzoneHole reports that the size of the Antarctic ozone hole averages about 13.3 million square kilometers, the entire size of the continent or one and a half times bigger than the U.S.

Size

• A normal layer of ozone protects the earth from damaging ultraviolet light from the sun. Although Antarctica is uninhabited, the hole extends to the tip of South America.

Misconceptions

• The "hole" is not completely dissolved. It is actually a thinning of the ozone layer, varying from 50 to 90 percent loss in the area of the hole.

Potential

• The ozone is likely to become a bigger problem if we do not reduce pollution. It continues to become more depleted as the years go by. 2006 set the record for ozone depletion with an average of 45 percent reduction.