Answer 2:
The hole in the ozone layer is centered over
Antarctica. The reason the hole doesn't move is
due to several factors. One is that there is an
Antarctic vortex. During the very cold winter
temperatures, the slow rotation of air around the
South Pole forms a partially walled-off mass of
air the size of North America. Although there is
also an Arctic vortex, it is weak by comparison.
Antarctica is also unique in that it has polar
stratospheric ice clouds, or PSC's.
In the
October Spring when the sun rises, rapid reactions
on the surface of the PSC's cause the equally
rapid destruction of ozone molecules. The
Antarctic vortex slows the mixing of air with the
rest of the globe, and thus we get a fairly
defined ozone "hole" over Antarctica. Hope this
helps.
Karla Wilson, MadSci Network
at
link
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