The British Antarctic Survey published he work finding the ozone (O3) and NASA had validated the findings with the images we see today.
...Total 03 has been measured (click here) at the British Antarctic Survey stations, Argentine Islands 65deg. S 64deg. W and Halley Bay 76deg. S 27deg. W, since 1957. Figure 1a shows data from Halley Bay. The mean and extreme daily values from October 1957 to March 1973 and the supporting calibrations have been discussed elsewhere [4,5]. The mean daily value for the four latest complete observing seasons (October 1980-March 1984) and the individual daily values for the current observing season are detailed in Fig.1. The more recent data are provisional values. Very generous bounds for possible corrections would be +/-30 matm cm. There was a changeover of spectrophotometers at the station in January 1982; the replacement instrument had been calibrated against the UK Meteorological Office standard in June 1981. Thus, two spectrophotometers have shown October values of total 03 to be much lower than March values, a feature entirely lacking in the 1957-73 data set. To interpret this difference as a seasonal instrumental effect would be inconsistent with the results of routine checks using standard lamps. Instrument temperatures (recorded for each observation) show that the March and October operating conditions were practically identical. Whatever the absolute error of the recent values may be, within the bounds quoted, the annual variation of total 03 at Halley Bay has undergone a dramatic change....
18 April 2015
By Robin McKie
It is popularly (click here) viewed as one of the greatest environmental success stories of modern times. Exactly 30 years ago, UK scientists announced they had discovered a hole in the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica.
The hole threatened to spread, allowing increased levels of cancer-causing radiation from the sun to reach the ground. Within a few years of the discovery it was agreed to set up the Montreal Protocol, which banned the manmade chemicals responsible for depleting ozone in the upper atmosphere.
But last week, one of the three UK scientists who discovered the hole in 1985 warned that the real lessons of the story had still not been learned. “Yes, an international treaty was established fairly quickly to deal with the ozone hole, but really the main point about its discovery was that it shows how incredibly rapidly we can produce major changes to our atmosphere and how long it takes for nature to recover from them,” said Jon Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey.
“Clearly, we still do not understand the full consequences of what we did then because we are still inflicting major changes on the atmosphere. Then it was chlorofluorocarbons; today it is greenhouse gases.”...
...Total 03 has been measured (click here) at the British Antarctic Survey stations, Argentine Islands 65deg. S 64deg. W and Halley Bay 76deg. S 27deg. W, since 1957. Figure 1a shows data from Halley Bay. The mean and extreme daily values from October 1957 to March 1973 and the supporting calibrations have been discussed elsewhere [4,5]. The mean daily value for the four latest complete observing seasons (October 1980-March 1984) and the individual daily values for the current observing season are detailed in Fig.1. The more recent data are provisional values. Very generous bounds for possible corrections would be +/-30 matm cm. There was a changeover of spectrophotometers at the station in January 1982; the replacement instrument had been calibrated against the UK Meteorological Office standard in June 1981. Thus, two spectrophotometers have shown October values of total 03 to be much lower than March values, a feature entirely lacking in the 1957-73 data set. To interpret this difference as a seasonal instrumental effect would be inconsistent with the results of routine checks using standard lamps. Instrument temperatures (recorded for each observation) show that the March and October operating conditions were practically identical. Whatever the absolute error of the recent values may be, within the bounds quoted, the annual variation of total 03 at Halley Bay has undergone a dramatic change....
By Robin McKie
It is popularly (click here) viewed as one of the greatest environmental success stories of modern times. Exactly 30 years ago, UK scientists announced they had discovered a hole in the ozone layer in the atmosphere above Antarctica.
The hole threatened to spread, allowing increased levels of cancer-causing radiation from the sun to reach the ground. Within a few years of the discovery it was agreed to set up the Montreal Protocol, which banned the manmade chemicals responsible for depleting ozone in the upper atmosphere.
But last week, one of the three UK scientists who discovered the hole in 1985 warned that the real lessons of the story had still not been learned. “Yes, an international treaty was established fairly quickly to deal with the ozone hole, but really the main point about its discovery was that it shows how incredibly rapidly we can produce major changes to our atmosphere and how long it takes for nature to recover from them,” said Jon Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey.
“Clearly, we still do not understand the full consequences of what we did then because we are still inflicting major changes on the atmosphere. Then it was chlorofluorocarbons; today it is greenhouse gases.”...
