5 April 2011
WMO)
Press Release No. 912
For use of the information media
Not an official record
Record stratospheric ozone loss in the
arctic in spring of 2011
Geneva, 5 April 2011 GENEVA 5 APRIL 2011
(WMO) — Depletion of the ozone layer- the shield that protects life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays - has reached an unprecedented level over the Arctic this spring because of the continuing presence of ozonedepleting substances in the atmosphere and a very cold winter in the stratosphere. The stratosphere is the second major layer of the
Earth’s atmosphere, just above the troposphere.
The record loss is despite an international agreement which has been very successful in cutting production and consumption of ozone destroying chemicals. Because of the long atmospheric lifetimes of these compounds it will take several decades before their concentrations are back down to pre-1980 levels, the target agreed in the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
Observations from the ground and from balloons over the Arctic region as well as from satellites show that the Arctic region has suffered an ozone column loss of about 40% from the beginning of the winter to late March. The highest ozone loss previously recorded was about 30% over the entire winter.
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. In the Arctic the meteorological conditions vary much more from one year to the next and the temperatures are always warmer than over Antarctica. Hence, some Arctic winters experience almost no ozone loss, whereas cold stratospheric temperatures in the Arctic lasting beyond the polar night can occasionally lead to substantial ozone loss.
Even though this Arctic winter was warmer than average at ground level, it was colder in the stratosphere than for a normal Arctic winter.
Unprecedented but not unexpected
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Although the degree of Arctic ozone destruction in 2011 is unprecedented, it is not unexpected. Ozone scientists have foreseen that significant Arctic ozone loss is possible in the case of a cold and stable Arctic stratospheric winter. Stratospheric ozone depletion occurs over the polar regions when temperatures drop below -78°C. At such low temperatures clouds form in the stratosphere. Chemical reactions that convert innocuous reservoir gases (e.g. hydrochloric acid) into active ozone depleting gases take place on the clouds particles. The result is rapid destruction of ozone if sunlight is present.
Ozone depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, once present in refrigerators, spray cans and fire extinguishers; have been phased out under the Montreal
Protocol. Thanks to this international agreement, the ozone layer outside the polar regions is projected to recover to its pre1980 levels around 2030-2040 according to the WMO/UNEP
Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion (see link below). In contrast, the springtime ozone layer over the Antarctic is expected to recover around 2045-60, and in the Arctic it will probably recover one or two decades earlier.
Without the Montreal Protocol, this year’s ozone destruction would most likely have been worse. The slow recovery of the ozone layer is due to the fact that ozone-depleting substances stay in the atmosphere for several decades. In the polar regions the drop in ozone depleting gases is 10% of what is required to return to the 1980 benchmark level.
Global Atmosphere Watch
“The Arctic stratosphere continues to be vulnerable to ozone destruction caused by ozone-depleting substances linked to human activities,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “The degree of ozone loss experienced in any particular winter depends on the meteorological conditions. The 2011 ozone loss shows that we have to remain vigilant and keep a close eye on the situation in the Arctic in the coming years,” he said.
“WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch Network has many stations in the Arctic and helps us to obtain an early warning in case of low ozone and intense UV radiation.”
If the ozone depleted area moves away from the pole and towards lower latitudes one can expect increased ultraviolet (UV) radiation as compared to the normal for the season. As the solar elevation at noon increases over the next weeks, regions affected by the ozone depletion will experience higher than normal UV radiation. The public is recommended to stay informed through national UV forecasts.
It should be pointed out, however, that the UV radiation will not increase to the same intensity as one suffers in the tropical regions of the globe. The sun is still relatively low in the sky, and this limits the amount of UV radiation that passes through the atmosphere.
UV-B rays have been linked to skin cancer, cataracts and damage to the human immune system.
Some crops and forms of marine life can also suffer adverse effects.
Background
The stratosphere is the second major layer of the atmosphere, above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere starts at about 10 km altitude and reaches up to an altitude of about
50 km. About 90% of the ozone in the atmosphere is found the stratosphere with the remaining 10% in the troposphere. The ozone in the stratosphere is called the ozone layer, which absorbs ultraviolet light and protects life on earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The ozone in the troposphere, and especially close to the ground, is unwanted because it is a corrosive gas that causes damage to vegetation and can harm lung function and irritate the respiratory system in humans and animals.
Increased amounts of greenhouse gases lead to higher temperatures at the surface of the earth, but models show that the stratosphere at the same time will get colder. Therefore ozone scientists have foreseen that significant ozone loss can happen in the Arctic stratosphere. If the cold temperatures persist into spring, i.e. when the sun comes back after the polar night, ozone destruction speeds up.
In Antarctica such conditions prevail every winter/spring season, whereas in the Arctic the variability from one year to the next is much larger. Large ozone loss is therefore not an annually recurring phenomenon in the Arctic stratosphere. While increased amounts of longlived greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are expected to cause some cooling of the stratosphere in the long term, it cannot explain the large variations in temperature that is observed from one year to the next in the Arctic stratosphere.
Both satellite observations and coordinated launches of ozonesondes carried by weather balloons show us at which altitudes the ozone loss takes place. These measurements show that the ozone loss takes place between 15 and 23 km above the ground with an ozone minimum around 19-20 km. This coincides with the region of low temperatures below -78°C. In this region more than 2/3 of the ozone
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UNEP DTIE OzonAction

has been destroyed so far. Measurements from the SCIAMACHY satellite instrument show record high amounts of the molecule OClO, a compound that takes part in ozone destruction. Satellite measurements of total ozone from OMI, GOME-2 and SCIAMACHY show a region of low ozone above the Arctic regions. As of late March the ozone poor region is shifted away from the pole and covers
Greenland and Scandinavia.
The Vienna Convention to Protect the Ozone Layer came into force in 1985. Two years later the
Montreal Protocol to phase out production and consumption of ozone-depleting products was signed.
The Montreal Protocol has been reinforced on several occasions after 1987.
Images of total ozone column and vertical ozone profiles around the pole on March 30, developed by
Finnish Meteorological Institute using satellite and ground based data, can be found at http://www.ava.fmi.fi/~jtammine/gomos_video.gif
The 2010 WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment on Ozone Depletion is available at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/assessments/ozone/ with more details about the current state of the ozone layer and projections for the future.
The World Meteorological Organization is the United Nations System’s
Authoritative voice on Weather, Climate and Water
For more information, please contact:
Carine Richard-Van Maele, Chief, Communications and Public Affairs, Tel: +(41 22) 730 8315; +(41
79) 406 47 30 (cell); e-mail: cpa[at]wmo.int
Clare Nullis, Press Officer, Communications and Public Affairs, Tel: +(41 22) 730 8478; e-mail: cnullis[at]wmo.int
###
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Collection of articles from worldwide sources
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UNEP DTIE OzonAction

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Collection of articles from worldwide sources
Compiled by Samira de Gobert
UNEP DTIE OzonAction

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Nunatsiaq News - Mar 15, 2011
This image shows how large the Arctic ozone hole, shown here in blue, was in 2006. This year's ozone hole will be at least as large, scientists predict. (IMAGE/NASA) Make sure you slap on lots of sunscreen this spring, because there's a growing hole in ...
Unusually low Arctic temperatures causing ozone depletion
Cordis News - Mar 15, 2011
EU-funded researchers have discovered that unusually low temperatures in the
Arctic ozone layer have triggered large-scale ozone depletion. The findings show that the
Arctic could soon experience much less protection from the sun's damaging ultraviolet ...
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Collection of articles from worldwide sources
Compiled by Samira de Gobert
UNEP DTIE OzonAction

TG Daily - Kate Taylor - Mar 15, 2011
"Since the conditions leading to this unusually rapid ozone depletion continue to prevail, we expect further depletion to occur," says Markus Rex of the Alfred Wegener Institute for
Polar and Marine Research. And the changes may have an impact beyond ...
Significant arctic ozone loss tracked
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"Since the conditions leading to this unusually rapid ozone depletion continue to prevail, we expect further depletion to occur," he said. Scientists point to a connection between ozone loss and climate change, noting in the arctic stratosphere at ...
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Low temperatures in the Arctic 'ozone layer' have recently initiated massive ozone depletion, which means the Arctic could experience a record loss of this trace gas that protects the Earth's surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. ...
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The Globe & Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ozone-layer-faces-record-loss-overarctic/article1971038/?cmpid=nl-news1
ACR News (UK): Arctic ozone loss hits record levels
6 th April 2011
DESPITE efforts to phase-out ozone depleting gases like CFCs and HCFCs, depletion of the ozone layer over the Arctic has reached an unprecedented level this spring, according to the
UN's World Meteorological Organisation.
Very low winter temperatures in the stratosphere combined with the continuing presence of long-lifetime ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere are blamed. The Arctic region is said to have suffered an ozone column loss of about 40 per cent from the beginning of the winter to late March. The highest ozone loss previously recorded was about 30 per cent over the entire winter.
At the opposite end of the Earth, the so-called Antarctic ozone hole is an annually recurring winter/spring phenomenon due to the existence of extremely low temperatures in the stratosphere.
In the Arctic the meteorological conditions vary much more from one year to the next and the temperatures are always warmer than over Antarctica. Hence, some Arctic winters experience almost no ozone loss, whereas cold stratospheric temperatures in the Arctic lasting beyond the polar night can occasionally lead to substantial ozone loss. Even though this Arctic winter was warmer than average at ground level, it was colder in the stratosphere than for a normal Arctic winter.
Thanks to the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer outside the polar regions is projected to recover to its pre-1980 levels around 2030-2040 according to the WMO/UNEP. In contrast, the springtime ozone layer over the Antarctic is expected to recover around 2045-60, and in the Arctic it will probably recover one or two decades earlier.
International Business Time (UK): Arctic ozone depletion unprecedented, but not unexpected: WMO
6 th April 2011
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UNEP DTIE OzonAction

The Arctic region has suffered an ozone column loss of about 40 percent from the beginning of the winter to late March this year, but the unprecedented ozone destruction was rather expected, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
A plane takes off from an ice runway near the Applied Physics Lab Ice Station to return to
Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska March 18, 2011
Guides and Reports
The unprecedented level of the depletion of the ozone layer was owing to the continuing presence of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere and a very cold winter in the stratosphere, the UN weather agency said in a press release.
"Ozone scientists have foreseen that significant Arctic ozone loss is possible in the case of a cold and stable Arctic stratospheric winter," WMO said.
It also said that without the Montreal Protocol, this year’s ozone destruction would have been worse. Ozone depleting substances like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons which were present in refrigerators, spray cans and fire extinguishers, have been phased out under the Montreal Protocol.
However, this has not fully translated into lower levels of ozone depletion. "The slow recovery of the ozone layer is due to the fact that ozone-depleting substances stay in the atmosphere for several decades," WMO said.
The beneficial impact of the Montreal Protocol will be visible over a period of time. "Thanks to this international agreement, the ozone layer outside the polar regions is projected to recover to its pre-1980 levels around 2030-2040 according to the WMO/UNEP Scientific
Assessment of Ozone Depletion."
The agency also warned that increased ultraviolet (UV) radiation unusual for the season is possible if the ozone depleted area moves away from the pole and towards lower latitudes.
"As the solar elevation at noon increases over the next weeks, regions affected by the ozone depletion will experience higher than normal UV radiation. The public is recommended to stay informed through national UV forecasts," WMO said.
ARCTIC VULNERABILITY
The WMO said the Arctic stratosphere continues to be vulnerable to ozone destruction caused by ozone-depleting substances linked to human activities. “The degree of ozone loss experienced in any particular winter depends on the meteorological conditions. The 2011 ozone loss shows that we have to remain vigilant and keep a close eye on the situation in the
Arctic in the coming years,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said.
The ozone in the stratosphere is called the ozone layer. It is the shield that protects life on
Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet rays. About 90 percent of the ozone in the atmosphere is found in the stratosphere, while the remaining 10 percent is found in the troposphere. The stratosphere starts at about 10 km altitude and reaches up to an altitude of about 50 km.
Persisting cold temperatures at the stratosphere lead to the speeding up of ozone depletion,
WMO says. "In Antarctica such conditions prevail every winter/spring season, whereas in the Arctic the variability from one year to the next is much larger. Large ozone loss is therefore not an annually recurring phenomenon in the Arctic stratosphere. While increased amounts of longlived greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are expected to cause some cooling of the stratosphere in the long term, it cannot explain the large variations in temperature that is observed from one year to the next in the Arctic stratosphere."
Satellite observations and the findings of ozonesondes have shown that almost two thirds of the ozone in a crucial region of the stratosphere has already been destroyed, WMO said. It says ozone loss takes place between 15 and 23 km above the ground with an ozone minimum around 19-20 km. It is in this region that most destruction has happened. The agency also says that this 'ozone poor region' has shifted away from the pole and covers
Collection of articles from worldwide sources
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UNEP DTIE OzonAction

Greenland and Scandinavia as of late March.
All Headline News (UK): U.N. warns Arctic ozone depletion at record 40 percent
6 th April 2011
There was an unprecedented thinning of the ozone layer over the Arctic region last winter, according to the United Nations' meteorological agency. Scientists had anticipated the depletion, which is separate from another one in Antartica, but nonetheless urged vigilance to keep harmful ultraviolet light from rising.
The Arctic's ozone layer in stratosphere, the second major layor of the Earth's atmosphere, thinned by 40 percent during the season, up from a record of 30 percent, according to the
World Meteorological Organization.
The depletion resulted from an extremely cold winter in the stratosphere and the continuing presence of chloro fl uorocarbons, which destroy ozone molecules.
Ozone is an invisible form of oxygen that protects life from the sun's ultraviolet light. But the benefits from it end in the stratosphere, which starts at an altitude of 6 miles and ends at 31 miles.
At lower levels in the atmosphere, ozone is corrosive. It emits thermal radiation, and together with other gases such as carbon dioxide cause temperatures to rise much like in a greenhouse.
The WMO, which has 189 member-states, made clear the seasonal ozone loss was expected if there was an unusually cold winter in the stratosphere.
The effects of ozone in the lower atmosphere were officially recognized in 1987, when nations banned the use chloro fl uorocarbons in manufacturing spray cans, styrofoam and refrigerator coolants under the Montreal Protocol.
However, chloro fl uorocarbons will remain in the atmosphere for decades. The ozone layer over Antartica in the South Pole, where a hole was discovered in the 1970s, is expected to recover between 2045 and 2060.
The Antartic ozone hole is an annual phenomenon that happens when temperatures in the stratosphere drop during winter. According to NASA, its size varies but in 2007 was bigger than the whole of North America.
In the Arctic, a region that spans all or parts of Canada, Denmark , Russia, Sweden and the
United States, the recovery of the ozone layer is expected between 2025 and 2040.
According to WMO, ozone loss occurs in the Arctic and Antartic when temperatures fall below -78°C. During such conditions, chemical reactions in the stratosphere turn clouds into ozone-depleting gases, much like chloro fl uorocarbons.
There is less depletion in the North Pole because the Arctic is always comparatively warmer than the Antartic.
"The degree of ozone loss experienced in any particular winter depends on the meteorological conditions," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement.
"The 2011 ozone loss shows that we have to remain vigilant and keep a close eye on the situation in the Arctic in the coming years."
The Gazette (Canada): Protective ozone layer dwindles to record low
6 th April 2011
The ozone layer shielding the planet from ultraviolet rays has deteriorated to unprecedented lows over the Arctic, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday.
Much of the destruction occurred over northern Canada last month and the depleted air mass has now shifted to Europe, but could swing back during the next few weeks, said scientists.
"It was over Canada, and now it's rotated round and peaked over Scandinavia," said atmospheric scientist James Drummond, at Halifax's Dalhousie University, whose team has been monitoring the destruction from a research station in Eureka on Ellesmere Island.
Measurements from the ground, atmospheric balloons and satellites show that the Arctic
Collection of articles from worldwide sources
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UNEP DTIE OzonAction

region lost about 40 per cent of its ozone layer from the beginning of the winter to late
March. The WMO said the highest loss previously recorded was about 30 per cent over the entire winter.
David Tarasick, whose team at Environment Canada launches several ozone measuring balloons a week as part of the international monitoring program, said some station readings have been "nearly 50 per cent below normal."
The scientists said the intriguing and worrying phenomenon may be linked to rising carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere -but it does not, at this stage, pose a serious hazard.
Tarasick said the sun is so low in the sky that only low levels of ultraviolet light can get through to hit the ground. But he said the "record" springtime depletion could result in a one to two per cent increase in UV levels this summer.
The protective ozone is located in the stratosphere, which starts about 10 kilometres above the ground. The ozone molecules absorb ultraviolet light and help shield people and ecosystems from harmful solar radiation that has been linked to skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage.
Posted on April 5, 2011 by Anthony Watts
From the European Space Agency, a story of significant cold and wind patterns that have created an ozone “hole” in the
Arctic where there normally isn’t one. The last time this happened was in 1997. It isn’t really a “hole” as you can see in the graphic below there are reduced levels of ozone, but nothing anywhere near zero.
2 min - 27 Mar 2011
Uploaded by highercalling88
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