Atmosphere Interview Question:

Why ozone hole has appeared over Antarctica when ozone-depleting gases are present throughout the stratosphere?

Submitted by: Administrator

Ozone-depleting gases are present throughout the stratospheric ozone layer because they are transported great distances by atmospheric air motions. The severe depletion of the Antarctic ozone layer known as the ozone hole occurs because of the special weather conditions that exist there and nowhere else on the globe. The very low temperatures of the Antarctic stratosphere create ice clouds called polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). Special reactions that occur on PSCs and the relative isolation of polar stratospheric air allow chlorine and bromine reactions to produce the ozone hole in Antarctic springtime
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