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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 1, NUMBER 5, NOVEMBER 1988

NEWS...
1988 ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE

Item #d88nov2

Stratospheric ozone depletion, measured by instruments on the Nimbus-7 satellite, was only about 15 percent this year, compared to the 50 percent depletion observed last October. Mark Schoerberl of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration explained that the loss this year was less than expected, but is a result of natural variability of the atmosphere. Stronger activity in the Antarctic circulation resulted in temperatures 10 degrees Celsius higher than last year, resulting in fewer polar stratospheric clouds. Recent research indicates these ice clouds are involved in ozone destruction by reactions involving chlorofluorocarbons. This year's reduced ozone loss was confirmed by balloon-borne measurements conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (See Science News, p. 260, Oct. 22, 1988; Nature, p. 657, Oct. 20; Science, p. 515, Oct. 28.)