The scientists say it was Freon, which is credible IMO. Like to see why they think it will repair itself...due to the ozone we make?
Ozone hole will close: Japanese team The hole in the ozone layer will be mostly gone by around 2040 due to restrictions placed on chlorofluorocarbons, a Japanese research team said Tuesday.
In the 1980s, the ozone layer, which protects animals and plants from dangerous ultraviolet rays, started to deplete above the South Pole.
CFCs are efficient at eating away the ozone layer.
"What influences the South Pole is not global warming, but chlorine in the atmosphere that mostly originates from CFCs," said Tatsuya Nagashima of the National Institute for Environmental Studies.
The study was carried out by Nagashima and Masaaki Takahashi, a professor at the Center for Climate System Research at the University of Tokyo. It will soon be published in the academic journal American Geophysical Union.
The team's findings are different from those of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration as well as other institutions, which have predicted the hole will continue to grow until after 2050.
The team used a supercomputer to predict changes in the ozone layer above the South Pole and the North Pole while the restrictions on CFCs are in place.
Based on detailed calculations on atmospheric movement and chemical reactions that occur in the atmosphere, they concluded that the ozone layer will mostly recover.
According to their findings, the amount of ozone over the South Pole will not change over the next 15 years. However, it will suddenly rise in the late 2030s before recovering around 2040.
Over the North Pole, where destruction of the ozone layer is not as serious, the amount of ozone will decrease until 2010, after which it will mostly remain unchanged, according to the researchers.
The Japan Times: May 29, 2002
I see no mention of the volcano in Antarctica that blew a hole in that theory, so to speak.
That Freon(CFC's) are to blame for the ozone hole over Antartica is erroneous. Freon, dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl
2F
2)is heavier than air and decomposes into hydrochloric acid, hydrofloric acid, and CO
2 when exposed to water vapor and ultraviolet light. The Freon demonizers would have you believe that this heavier than air gas, floats it's way in to the stratosphere 6 to 30 miles up, decomposes and the chlorine then bonds with the ozone destroying it, and thus our protection from the damaging ultraviolet light.
Ozone O3 is created from Oxygen O2 and ultraviolet light. In absence of the ultraviolet, Ozone will reform into Oxygen in approximately 30 minutes.
The main sources of ultraviolet light in nature are sunlight and lightning.
Antartica, the southern pole is in darkness while the Earth tilts the Northern Hemisphere 23º towards the sun in our summer. Hence there is a seasonal aspect to the Ozone content over the Southpole , and to a lesser extent the Northpole(during our winter).
The major source of variable Ozone depletion at the Southpole is Mount Erebus. Located on Ross Island, Erebus is classified as a continually erupting volcano, it spews gigatons of superheated Chlorine, Bromine, Florine and Sulfur gas per year into the atmosphere. The Erebus summit is just slightly over 10,000 feet above sea level. This combined with the wind vortices in Antartica(200+MPH Catabalic winds) easily pumps the superheated Chlorine, Bromine, Florine, and Sulfur gases into the Antartic Stratosphere, binding with the Oxygen, and thus reducing the Ozone content.
The output of Erebus in HF and HCL alone was an average of 6 gigatons per year from 1976 to 1985, and 13.3 gigatons per year from 1986-1991. More recently Erebus has began to spew ash, bombs, and lava. Cumulatively from 1976 to 1991 that is over 116 gigatons of HF and HCL from a source local to the effect, yet we are to believe that man is to blame. Right.
Here's a few pictures of Mount Erebus and it's nearly constant flume.
Live Video cam link It's mostly dark there now, but there are picture archives and movies of past eruptions.