Poles together

Extract

In March 1993 the Atmospheric Environment Service's monitoring network across Canada registered ground-level fluxes of solar ultraviolet-B radiation (UVBR) that were the highest on record. This effect was correlated with the spring-time depletion of ozone in the northern upper atmosphere, and AES predicted that the average depletion over Canada could be this severe or worse for the next 15–20 years. These reports heightened awareness amongst the Canadian public as well as the scientific community about the Antarctic ozone hole, and about the most recent UVBR and atmospheric research findings from Antarctica. The causes and biological impacts of high latitude ozone depletion is but one example where information derived from one polar zone is of vital interest to those living in, or otherwise concerned with the other. In this and other research areas the time is appropriate for a bipolar perspective on Antarctica.