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The ozone layer
Without the ozone layer life would not exist on the earth. It protects us, animals and plants from the harmful ultraviolet rays that can cause us great harm, for example, skin cancer. This can cause a reduction of ozone in the atmosphere. The ozone layer has surrounded the ground continuously for millions of years, and is a kind of an umbrella over the earth. But in the 1920s people realized that the ozone layer is very sensitive and people started to worry about the possible depletion of the ozone layer, caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) one name, called freon. These are compounds containing chlorine, fluorine, carbon (punctuation) and have been used in e.g. aerosols and refrigerants. They are considered to be the most destructive substances for the ozone layer depletion. By the chemical reactions of ozone, the ozone depleting substances disrupted this balance and increases the ultraviolet radiation at the surface. It can cause great harm to the biosphere.
Now the ozone layer has a large hole over both polar regions, the ozone layer is very thin but there hasn’t come a hole. But why the polar regions? Scientists started to notice that the ozone layer over these regions began to decline sharply in the early 17's.The word ‘hole’ is used as a metaphor for the area where the ozone concentration falls below the historical threshold of 220 'Dobson units'. The likely cause of this is that the degradation of the ozone will be the speed at which the air is very cold and ice crystals are formed. The thickness of the ozone layer is measured in Dobson units like earlier said.
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