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NASA: Ozone hole smallest it's been since 1988
NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been monitoring the ozone hole since it was first discovered in 1985. The agencies use satellites, weather balloons and ground-based instruments to study and track the hole. The ozone hole changes throughout the year and reached its 2017 peak size on Sept. 11 at the end of the region's wintertime.
Scientists weren't surprised by the size of the hole this year. "This is what we would expect to see given the weather conditions in the Antarctic stratosphere," says Paul A. Newman, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA cites warmer global temperatures as a factor in reducing the hole.
But don't get too excited. NASA says the smaller hole "is due to natural variability and not a signal of rapid healing." The ozone hole still covered 7.6 million square miles (nearly 20 million square kilometers), or over two and a half times the size of Australia. Still, scientists are optimistic about the ozone hole eventually healing over time.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Entropy on Monday November 06 2017, @08:30AM (4 children)
Just like it being too hot, or too cold, or too much arctic ice, or not enough arctic ice....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @08:33AM (1 child)
If you read the summary, you will notice that is the case.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:45PM
Yes, that is precisely the point OP was making. If the ozone hole had gotten larger instead, it still would have been deemed a sign of global warming.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday November 06 2017, @07:37PM (1 child)
Or maybe it's just science getting it right like it usually does.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 07 2017, @06:02AM
Only if science delivers the right answers. We still don't know, for example, if the ozone hole is something that showed up for the first time in the 1980s or if it's been going off and on for the past five million years. But the current narrative makes a cool story, bro.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @08:30AM (5 children)
of environmentalist action. And it was so despite industry resisting and the Reagan administration. Interesting read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_depletion#Public_policy [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Monday November 06 2017, @08:59AM (4 children)
Unemployment is down to 4.1%, lowest in 17 years. 1.5 million new jobs created since I took office. Highest stock market ever, up $5.4 trillion. Ozone hole down to 7.6 million square miles, smallest in 29 years. I think nobody knows our complex economy & environment better than I do, maybe in the history of the world, which is why I'm the only one who could truly fix both. #TRUMP2020 🇺🇸
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @09:30AM (3 children)
The joke is wearing thin.
Time to retire this account.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 06 2017, @12:16PM (2 children)
That's the beauty of it. It doesn't go away until the President does (and probably not for a while after that).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @02:59PM (1 child)
The other thing is, whenever I read some R written thing I get halfway through before I realize it isn't RDT posting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 07 2017, @03:35AM
... that would be rDT ...