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Article: Depletion of Ozone Layer
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 15, 1996
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Depletion of the ozone layer, a new study concludes, is
responsible for a cooling trend that scientists have observed in the
upper atmosphere.
Since 1979, satellites have seen temperatures drop about one
degree in a layer of the lower stratosphere roughly 10 miles above
Earth's surface, even as lower regions of the atmosphere have
warmed. Scientists have suspected that ozone depletion in the lower
stratosphere may be partially or wholly responsible for the cooling
trend.
The high-altitude cooling is not an environmental threat,
because temperatures in the lower stratosphere have little to do
with climate patterns near Earth's surface. But understanding the
cooling and what is ...