Ozone Hoax: Hole Now Twice the Size of the U.S.

If you’ve been looking to cast yourself into a deep hole from which you can never return (I have!), the one in the ozone layeris a prime choice right now.

The hole in the atmosphere’s ozone layer just reached its maximum annual size, experts at European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (ECMWF) said on Tuesday. The extent of the hole over Antarctica reached 8.8 million square miles (23 million square kilometers) this year, making it one of the largest and deepest ozone holes in recent history. For context, that’s more than twice the size of the entire U.S. Throw me in!

The ozone is the part of the planet’s atmosphere that absorbs most of the dangerous incoming ultraviolet radiation from the sun. But humans’ penchant for using ozone-depleting substances for refrigeration and air conditioning caused a hole in that layer to open up annually each year. The alarming growth of the hole led world leaders to ban the ozone-depleting chemicals in the 1980s, but the ozone hole is still a huge problem that will take decades to totally heal.

The ozone hole forms when sunlight comes to the Antarctic region, and the light reacts with the ozone-depleting compounds that society has emitted over decades and have soared up into the freezing cold stratosphere. When conditions up in the atmosphere are particularly icy, this chemical reaction thrives. And this year, it got really, really cold due to a particularly strong polar vortex over the Antarctic.

It’s typical for the hole to fluctuate in size with weather events, but it generally becoming largest in October. But just because it happens every year doesn’t mean it’s good. 2020’s maximum extent was bigger and deeper than average.Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service at ECMWF, said in a statement that it resembled the relatively big and deep hole seen in 2018.

But weirdly, this year’s Big Hole followed last year’s small extent. In fact, last year’s ozone hole was the smallest minimum on record and it closed up relatively quickly.

“There is much variability in how far ozone hole events develop each year,” Peuch said. Clearly!

Read more at earther.gizmodo.com


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Comments (17)

  • Avatar

    Herb Rose

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    Hi Dharma,
    The ozone molecule is not what is absorbing uv light. The concentration of O3 in the ozone layer is 10 ppm, not enough to significantly affect any radiation coming from the sun. It is formed when an oxygen molecule absorbs more than 450,000 joules/mole from the emitted uv radiation coming and splits into two oxygen atoms. When one of these atoms reacts with an oxygen molecule it forms ozone. In the winter there is little sunlight over the southern pole and little uv to form the ozone.
    The ozone molecule is unstable and decays naturally at a rate dependent on the temperature, so with fewer ozone molecules being formed and the existing ones decaying the ozone concentration decreases causing the “hole”. It is completely natural phenomena so you can forget about the self flagellation.
    The uv coming from the sun is produced by the solar flares not the body of the sun. Since we are entering a grand solar minimum where there are few flares, there will be reduced uv emitted and forming ozone resulting in the “hole” increasing. Because there is less uv, less uv radiation will reach the surface. The larger the “hole” the less radiation arriving at the surface so it is good news not bad.
    Herb

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Hivemind

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      It was always suspicious to me, that the whole ozone ‘hole’ thing came about over a very small number of years, with very truncated data. Later excursions through historical records showed that the ozone measurements weren’t much different in Mawson’s time. My own theory is that someone simply took the downswing of a cyclical pattern and said “that’s enough to get me my next 10 years of research grants”.

      Reply

      • Avatar

        Herb Rose

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        Hi Hivemind,
        A paper was done showing Cl could breakdown ozone (Cl being a greater oxidizer than oxygen.) then the “hole” was discovered. The “It’s All Our Fault” zealots immediately jumped on the idea that it must be from HFC used for refrigeration which must be rising into the stratosphere (even though their molecular weight makes that impossible), breaking down (even though they are not susceptible to oxidation), releasing Chlorine and Florine and destroying the ozone.
        Dupont at first pointed out that this was nonsense but releasing that their patents on Freon had run out and they had patented substitutes that no one else could sell, they jumped on bandwagon and got the chlorofluorocarbons banned. It cost thousands of lives since businesses had to return to solvents that were highly toxic and flammable but they made more money.
        Herb

        Reply

  • Avatar

    Joseph Olson

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    OZONE FACTS > highly reactive, natural molecule, with atmospheric half-life of 30 minutes >
    formed by 256 nanometer UV light and by lightning, with over 100 strikes per second worldwide > Fluorine is the 13th most common Earth element, highly reactive and forms hundreds of compounds in volcanic plume gases, in volumes that are magnitudes greater than human freon

    “Volcanic Fluorocarbons” by Timothy Casey at Geologist-1011(.)net

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Dean Michael Jackson

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    “But humans’ penchant for using ozone-depleting substances for refrigeration and air conditioning caused a hole in that layer to open up annually each year.”

    CFCs weren’t around in large quantities in the 1950s when the Dutch (and British looking at 1950s data; Dr. George Dobson) actually discovered thinning (there’s no ‘holes’) of ozone. And when Marxist destroyers of civilizations said they ‘discovered’ ozone ‘holes’ back in the 1970s, why would they think it wasn’t a natural phenomena (when it’s known ozone depletes itself without sunlight to replenish it) unless they had an agenda, their agenda being, of course, the “abolition of religion”, and the destruction of those civilizations “whose spiritual aroma is religion” [1]:

    And by the way, the cold activates nothing…”Intense cold in the upper atmosphere of the Arctic last winter activated ozone-depleting chemicals and produced the first significant ozone hole ever recorded over the high northern regions, scientists reported in the journal Nature.”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/20/daleo-on-ozone-hole-it-is-very-likely-to-have-been-there-forever/

    The cold inhibits chemical reactions! When it gets really cold at both poles, during their winters, ozone naturally depletes because there’s no SUNLIGHT that replenishes ozone.

    At my blog, read the articles…

    ‘House of Cards: The Collapse of the ‘Collapse’ of the USSR’

    ‘Playing Hide And Seek In Yugoslavia’

    Then read the article, ‘The Marxist Co-Option Of History And The Use Of The Scissors Strategy To Manipulate History Towards The Goal Of Marxist Liberation’

    My blog…

    https://djdnotice.blogspot.com/2018/09/d-notice-articles-article-55-7418.html

    [1] Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Karl Marx (1843)

    https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/Marx_Critique_of_Hegels_Philosophy_of_Right.pdf

    “The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.”

    …and…

    “The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.”

    …and…

    “It is, therefore, the task of history, once the other-world of truth has vanished, to establish the truth of this world.”

    Now you know what Marxists are referring to when they utter the phrase, “The Struggle”…

    “The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.”

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Andy Rowlands

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    Sounds pretty much like business as usual as far as the ozone ‘hole’ is concerned. It has been varying since we started recording it, and presumably always has.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Charles Higley

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    Nothing was ever PROVEN regarding CFCs and ozone thinning. So many people just assume the science is settled.

    The scientist who cobbled up the “science” that blamed CFC refrigerants for ozone destruction was hired by Dupont Chemical to fabricate the study. Dupont’s popular CFC refrigerant was out of patent and being made cheaply all over the world, thus saving food and lives around the world. So, based on this false study, Dupont blew the issue up and lobbied Washington DC to ban the refrigerant. Once that was accomplished, the UN and the world jumped on board and we have the Kyoto Protocol, which they like to tout as a success, but the real success was by Dupont. With CFCs banned, Dupont just happened to have a new, more expensive refrigerant, an HFC not a CFC, already under patent and ready to go. The world is saved, yay!

    Wonder of wonders, a couple of years after the second refrigerant was out of patent, two things happened. First, Dupont started making noises toward banning HFCs as potential ozone destroyers and greenhouse gases. Second, the scientist who fabricated the original false study confessed to the scam, but it is way after the horse has left the barn and no one cares.

    Meanwhile, real scientists have discovered that the extreme cold over the Antarctic in winter fosters reactions of N2 gas, solar UV, and ozone that break down the ozone. It has nothing to do with CFCs or HFCs, which were part of an industrial scam not a climate or environmental crisis.

    As Earth is cooling, it is no surprise that ozone thinning might start to occur in the Arctic winter as it also cools to sufficiently cold for natural ozone breakdown. Another sign that the planet is indeed cooling. We have never seen the Antarctic without an ozone hole and it is dishonest to assume that the hole was not there before we detected it.

    Reply

    • Avatar

      JaKo

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      Hi,
      It really is frightening how those “self-flagellating progressives” almost always generate false emergencies and often instigate impractical “solutions” to many non-existing problems, while involved industry tend to improve their bottom line.
      Fool me once…eh?
      Cheers, JaKo

      Reply

      • Avatar

        Jerry Krause

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        Hi Charles and JaKo,

        First I was having a telephone conversion with a representative of Dupont was fighting the wrong idea of the ozone hole’s formation. And as you and others have recognized, DuPont suddenly took advantage of the controversy for they had prepared a substitute for the ‘bad’ freon which certainly worked to DuPont’s advantage.

        Now despite this substitute seemingly success, the huge ozone hole is observed and when the previous year the near historically small ozone hole had been observed. I, with the editorial help of Matt Holt (New Zealand) plan to present my novel explanation of the natural cause of its formation based upon diverse observations of many ‘common’ people who actually have observed and actually consider (study) what has and can be observed if one pays attention.

        And Michael Clarke, we need your help to make our essays most simply informative and ‘attractive’..

        Have a good day, Jerry

        Reply

    • Avatar

      JaKo

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      Oh, I forgot Charles — regarding the Freon — it was 1987 Montreal Protocol.

      Reply

  • Avatar

    Jerry L Krause

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    Hi Dharna and PSI.Readers,

    You wrote: “But weirdly, this year’s Big Hole followed last year’s small extent. In fact, last year’s ozone hole was the smallest minimum on record and it closed up relatively quickly. “There is much variability in how far ozone hole events develop each year,”

    And we read that this variability is the result of the atmosphere’s temperature and circulation. according to Peuch, the authority.

    I ask the following question to emphasize the importance of this which Dharna shared with us: Does not every one know that the atmosphere’s circulation is extremely variable.

    Solomon noted long ago: “The wind blows to the south and turns to the north, round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.” (Ecclesiastes 1:6 NIV). Polar vortex!

    Have a good day, Jerry

    Reply

    • Avatar

      Jerry Krause

      |

      Hi Folks again,

      I should have followed ‘polar vortex’ with the question: Why? The polar vortex is an effect. What is its cause?

      Have a good day, Jerry

      Reply

      • Avatar

        Jerry Krause

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        Hi Herb

        Let me be the first to inform you that is the ozone of the stratosphere which puts a top on the troposphere. Or to put it another way, without the ozone of the stratosphere there is n stratosphere. Try to disagree with this information!

        Have a good day, Jerry

        Reply

        • Avatar

          Herb Rose

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          Hi Jerry,
          The designation of troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere is a designation of layers of the atmosphere based on the temperature recorded by a thermometer and has nothing to do with composition of the atmosphere. (The troposphere doesn’t expand over Antartica because of the ozone “hole”.) With increasing altitude the temperature decreases in the troposphere, increases in the stratosphere, decreases in the mesosphere, and then increases in the thermosphere. There are other more rational ways of dividing the atmosphere besides this temperature designation.
          The ozone does not put a “top” on the troposphere as ozone occurs where ever in the atmosphere uv light breaks O2 bonds and a free oxygen atom combines with an oxygen molecule. Above the stratosphere the scarcity of molecules allows for oxygen atoms to combine with nitrogen molecules to form the nitrous oxide layer but there are still O3 molecules. Higher in the atmosphere the composition changes to oxygen atoms and helium as the percent of nitrogen in the atmosphere decreases. Below the stratosphere the increase in molecules and collisions make it difficult for an oxygen molecule to gain the energy (450,000 joule/mole) to split and form ozone but it does occur.The stratosphere is where the concentration of O2 and uv energy is best form making O3. Even there the concentration of O3 is only 10 ppm. A lid made from 10ppm of 400 grams/m^3 doesn’t constitute much of a barrier.
          Energy decreases with increasing distance from its source. Tell me Jerry, what is the source of energy at the top of the stratosphere that causes the temperature to increase from that of the mesosphere and troposphere?
          The troposphere/stratosphere boundary is where clouds form from water evaporating from the Earth’s surface and where the water crystals melt to form rain releasing energy.
          Have a good day,
          Herb

          Reply

        • Avatar

          Jerry Krause

          |

          Hi Herb,

          Thank you for giving me a reason to repond to: “With increasing altitude the temperature decreases in the troposphere, increases in the stratosphere, decreases in the mesosphere, and then increases in the thermosphere.”

          If you look at the data of the atmospheric soundings which were begun after WWII, you will discover that the atmosphere’s temperature a layer at the base of the troposphere does not always decrease with increase altitude. An observed fact which is easily explained if one is willing to follow the data.

          But your have to explain why there is a tropopause at the ‘top’ of the troposphere which is always observed observed in all soundings if the sounding ‘balloon’ lifts the instrument package to a high enough altitude

          Hence, I will await your explanation for this always observed tropopause.

          Have a good day, Jerry

          Reply

          • Avatar

            Herb Rose

            |

            Hi Jerry,
            The tropopause, where the temperature reading is constant, is where the melting point of the nano crystals droplets of water is reached and the energy is used to break the crystal structure rather than raise the temperature. It is the same as when an increase in energy converts 0 C ice into 0C water.I know you do not accept that the water in the atmosphere is a liquid crystal and believe that the thermometer temperature gives an accurate measurement of the kinetic energy of the gas molecules despite the evidence and the universal gas law but I will again answer your request, even though you ignore all evidence that doesn’t support your beliefs.
            Now will you reply to my question of “What is the source of energy at the top of the stratosphere that causes the temperature increase from the troposphere and the mesosphere?”
            Have a good day,
            Herb

    • Avatar

      Herb Rose

      |

      Hi Jerry,
      The ozone layer is in the stratosphere well above the winds and weather occurring in the troposphere.
      Have a good day,
      Herb

      Reply

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