UV radiation increases with ozone loss

Abstract

University of Chicago researchers studying the Antarctic ozone hole this past season have for the first time reported an increase in ultraviolet radiation that can be directly attributed to destruction of stratospheric ozone. Studies have repeatedly shown that UV light causes skin cancer and eye damage in humans, and mutations and growth disturbances in animals and plants. Indeed, in a simultaneous study in Antarctica, UV light was found to harm marine phytoplankton—organisms that are the base of the Antarctic food chain. John E. Frederick, professor of atmospheric sciences at Chicago has long been studying the effect of ozone depletion on UV light levels at Earth's surface using model calculations. His graduate student Dan spent September through December 1988 at the National Science Foundation's Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula, and continuously monitored UV light across a continuum of wavelengths. Lubin could see UV increase as the ozone hole developed and peaked in mid-October, Freder...