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News Release 06-121

Chemical Cause of Antarctic Ozone Hole Discovered 20 Years Ago This Month

Some models predict recovery by 2060

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Twenty years ago, scientists learned human production of CFCs caused the ozone hole over Antarctica.

Twenty years ago, a team of scientists university and government scientists learned the cause of the hole (dark) in the ozone layer over Antarctica to be human production of the chemical chloroflurocarbons, or CFCs. The continent is visibile through the hole.

Credit: NASA