Science / Medicine : Ozone Depletion in Arctic

Scientists have detected new evidence that ozone concentrations decline periodically over the Arctic, as in the annual depletion that forms the “ozone hole” over Antarctica. The researchers found a high-altitude ozone deficit that resembles an early step in formation of the Antarctic ozone hole, said study co-author D. J. Hofmann.

Previous research has also suggested ozone depletions over the Arctic.

The Antarctic hole is an area in which up to 50% of atmospheric ozone disappears for a limited time. In the Arctic, perhaps 25% could disappear under highly unusual, worst-case circumstances, Hofmann said.

The new study is reported in the British journal Nature by Hofmann, who is a physics professor at the University of Wyoming, and scientists from France, Japan, New Zealand and the University of Houston.