Excessive thinning ofozone layerwhen more than half of the ozone gas in a particular area is depleted, and harmful ultraviolet rays can pass through to reach the earth's surface.Theozone holewas of particular concern to the environmental scientist in our research and development lab so it was focused on.

We studied theozone holeand my friend informed me that the world would end because the ozone layer would be destroyed.

Temperatures frequently drop below -112ºF. Antarctica is also one of the windiest places on Earth. In May and June, strong winds in the stratosphere begin to blow clockwise around the continent. These howling stratospheric winds gradually form an enormous ring of moving air, called the Antarctic polar vortex, that swirls around and around, far above the frozen land….

During the winter, temperatures inside the Antarctic polar vortex fall so low that water vapor and several other types of molecules in the stratosphere condense into extremely small icy particles. These icy particles, in turn, make up polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). When the sun sets in the Antarctic around the end of March each year, its disappearance marks the beginning of a long, dark winter. Once the last rays of sunlight have faded away, temperatures on land and in the air fall very quickly.

In the stratosphere, high-altitude winds that create the polar vortex begin to blow around the continent. Isolated from warmer air outside the vortex, the air inside gets colder and colder. Eventually, it is cold enough for PSCs to form. And that is when the trouble really begins.Drifting around inside the polar vortex are reservoir molecules that have bonded with chlorine atoms and in so doing prevented them—so far—from attacking ozone. When PSCs form above Antarctica, chlorine reservoir molecules bind to the icy particles that make up the clouds. Once this happens, complex chemical reactions begin to take place that result in molecules of chlorine gas (Cl2) being released from the reservoirs. In this form, however, chlorine doesn't attack ozone. It just collects inside the vortex. All through the long, dark winter, especially during July and August, the chemical reactions taking place on the surfaces of the PSC particles continue, and more and more Cl2 builds up inside the vortex. At this point, the stage is set for ozone destruction. All that is needed is a trigger to get the process going.

That trigger comes in late August, when the sun begins to rise. As the first rays of spring sunlight strike the stratosphere high over the frozen continent, conditions change very rapidly. The UV rays coming from the sun strike the Cl2 molecules inside the vortex. The molecules break apart, releasing billions of chlorine atoms that begin an attack on ozone molecules. The result is massive ozone destruction. Before long, so much ozone is destroyed inside the vortex that an ozone hole is formed.