25th anniversary of the discovery of the ozone hole 7th May 2010
In May 1985, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
described their observations of large losses of ozone over
Antarctica in the prestigious journal, Nature. The scientists
had been monitoring ozone since the International Geophysical
Year of 1957–58. In 1985 they discovered that since the mid
1970s ozone values over Halley and Faraday research stations had
been steadily dropping when the sun reappeared each spring.
Something in the stratosphere (about 20 km above Earth) was
destroying ozone. The discovery of the ozone hole alerted the
world to the dramatic and major environmental threat. The
accumulation of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in refrigeration
and air conditioning systems, and industrial solvents were found
to deplete the protective layer of ozone that surrounds the
Earth. Action by governments around the world led to the 1987
Montreal Protocol and its amendments, which ensured that
production and consumption of CFCs, ha