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The Arctic is on course for record ozone destruction by the end of this month
(see p 24), after two winters of low ozone loss in the stratosphere. “The ozone
hole is already close to the deepest yet seen. And there is still ozone
destruction going on up there,” says John Pyle of the European Ozone Research
Coordinating Unit. According to NASA’s TOMS satellite, ozone destruction this
year has already lasted longer and been more widespread than in 1997, largely
because of record low temperatures. This time, however, ozone levels started
from a much higher level in the autumn.