Is there really a hole in the Ozone layer...does it have anything to do with global warming?

Question

I am a global warming skeptic, however

Answer 1

Hey David , the problem with global warming is CO2 emissions, mostly from coal fired power plants when our you people going to wake up. Coal has got to go .

Answer 2

Yes, there is.  It is the result of the release of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) into the atmosphere.  There are other gases involved but CFC's are the main culprit.

High up in the atmosphere, in a region called the stratosphere between 19 and 30 km above the Earth's surface, ozone is constantly being produced and destroyed naturally. This ozone layer filters out UV rays from the Sun and protects life on Earth. Usually there is a fine balance between the build up and loss of ozone. However, in the 1970s it was discovered that man-made chemicals called CFCs were destroying the ozone in the ozone layer.

CFCs contain chlorine which reacts with ozone at the low temperatures high up in the atmosphere. Once the chlorine has broken up one ozone molecule, it is freed to repeat the process again and again, up to 100,000 times. Thankfully, we have banned the use of new CFCs since 1995. However, because CFCs remain in the air for a long time, they will continue to affect the ozone layer well into the 21st century.

Recent conflicting reports about whether Antarctica is warming or cooling can now at least be explained - it is all the fault of the ozone hole.

Changing wind patterns triggered by the ozone hole are causing some areas to warm while others cool, says a new study by David Thompson of Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

The temperature changes are so great that they are swamping the gradual warming trend caused by the greenhouse effect. Thompson says that the ozone hole has become "the largest and most significant" cause of climate change on the ice continent.

The climate around Antarctica is dominated by strong westerly winds that swirl around a giant vortex of cold air that forms over the continent for much of the year. This polar vortex stretches from the ground into the stratosphere.

In the past 20 years, pollution has destroyed much of the ozone layer over Antarctica. That in turn has cooled the stratosphere by as much as 10°C. The cooling does not extent to ground level, but it has had the effect of strengthening the polar vortex and the westerly winds. This in turn, says Thompson, has caused the big changes in weather patterns at ground level that have alarmed climate scientists.

The ozone hole and global warming are different phenomenon, caused by largely different pollutants. Massive reductions in emissions of the chemicals that eat the ozone layer are predicted to heal the hole after about 2020. But global warming is far from under control and it seems likely that in the long run, all of Antarctica can expect to get hotter.

Answer 3

Yes.  It has more to do with CFCs in the atmosphere.

CFCs are chlorofluorocarbons which are a family of compounds that were used in spray cans and air conditioners, etc.  They caused the ozone in the upper atmosphere to breakdown.  That lets UV come through.

For an excellent  history of Global Warming go to:

http://www.aip.org/history/climate/co2.h...

Answer 4

yes there really is a hole in the ozone layer but it doesn't have ANYTHING to do with GLOBAL WARMING.

They are 2 totally different subjects.