de, are increasing on a global scale. Scientists now realize that the trace gases affecting ozone chemistry are the same as those that contribute to or alter the greenhouse warming of the planet. These two problems are connected. The most recent satellite data show that the ozone levels over the South Pole are lower than they were in 1984.
As if the Antarctic problem were not enough, NASA has discovered another ozone gap that forms each October through February on the other side of the world, near the North Pole. This Arctic hole is not as large in magnitude, but it is there. The Nimbus 7 also found a global drop in ozone of about 3 percent in a six-year period. Depending on its cause, this could be extremely serious, considering that scientists and policymakers have worried about the consequences of projected decreases in ozone of about 8 percent in the next century.
If the basic processes responsible for the Antarctic hole are also operating in the Arctic, then scientists think the effect on the Northern Hemisphere would be less severe bec
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