Ozone layer could develop hole over Britain, scientists warn

[IndianaGreen]

Ozone layer could develop hole over Britain, scientists warn

Destruction of protective gas means greater risk of skin cancer and cataracts. Geoffrey Lean reports

06 March 2005

Scientists will tomorrow fly a spy plane high into the world's protective ozone layer, amid increasing fears that it may be about to develop a hole over Britain and northern Europe.

The old Russian Cold War plane will take off from near Munich in a EU-funded mission to check reports that the stratosphere over the northern hemisphere faces rapid ozone destruction over the next few weeks. If the hole developed, people living under it would be at increased risk of skin cancer and cataracts, the main cause of blindness.

The danger - which will also be assessed by scientists meeting in Zurich this week - has been provoked by the coldest winter on record about 12 miles above the Arctic, setting up ideal conditions for the destruction of the ozone layer. It is linked with global warming - as the atmosphere nearer the Earth warms, the stratosphere cools.

The ozone layer - a scattering of the blue-tinged gas through the 21-mile deep stratosphere which is so thin that if collected together it would form a girdle round the Earth no thicker than the sole of a shoe - screens out harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=617253

[The Doctor.]

1. I just got off the phone with Jerry Falwell...

He assured me that God told him that there won't be a hole at all because there is no such thing as an 'Ozone Layer'.

-What a relief!

[IndianaGreen]

2. Thank you, Jay-Zeus!

Like Bush says, the evidence is inconclusive... until half of Florida is under the ocean.