Fed: Ozone hole now a green hero

AAP General News (Australia)
04-23-2009
Fed: Ozone hole now a green hero

By Cathy Alexander and Tim Dornin

CANBERRA, April 23 AAP - Remember that environmental villain, the hole in the ozone layer?

It might be giving us skin cancer, but scientists are now singing its praises for a
redeeming quality - it's stopping Antarctica from melting.

Fresh research from Britain shows Antarctica is getting bigger as the ice around it increases.

Antarctica's icy resilience has provided a quirky front in the war of words over climate change.

The boffins at the British Antarctic Survey say Antarctica's increasing ice girth is
not inconsistent with global warming - it's the ozone hole which is responsible.

The hole is causing more storms and more fierce winds around the South Pole, and that's
cooling down much of Antarctica.

"In the Antarctic human influence through the ozone hole has ... resulted in more ice,"

said John Turner, the lead author of the British research.

"The ozone hole is in many ways holding back the effects of greenhouse gas increases
in the Antarctic."

Humans now face a dilemma - to repair the ozone hole or leave it be.

The ozone hole was caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have a long life in
the atmosphere.

World leaders agreed to ban CFCs back in 1987. Scientists say the hole will close over
the next 50 years.

Prof Turner said Antarctic sea ice would be reduced by about one-third when that happened.

Australian Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the research was not proof that
global warming was a myth.

"It is clear from the consensus science ... that climate change is happening and that
human activity is contributing to it," Senator Wong told reporters in Adelaide.

Senator Wong said there had been plenty of debate around the science and it was time for action.

More research was needed into the Antarctic ice question, she said.

The British research was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

AAP ca/jl

KEYWORD: ANTARCTICA

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