rt of the net effect being the conversion of ozone into oxygen (10:2127). An abridged version of the series of steps involved in converting ozone to oxygen follows:
C1+ O3 > C1O + O2; C1O + O > C1 + O2
The implication is that CFMs might cause significant depletion of the ozone layer (10:2127).
A report issued by the National Academy of Sciences in 1979 stated that the potential for depletion of ozone in the stratosphere caused by the release of CFMs was greater than had been previously predicted (10:2127). The report projected that continued production and use of CFMs at the 1977 rate would lead to an eventual 16.5 percent depletion of stratospheric ozone. Later in 1979, projection rates for ozone depletion were increased because of direct measurement of several key chemical reactions. As a result, it has been estimated that an eventual ozone depletion rate of 18.6 percent would have resulted if CFMs had continued to be released at 1977 rates (10:2127). It has been shown that every September since the late 1970s, the Antarctic experienced a temporary but dramatic loss of ozone. It has been hypothesized that this loss of ozone developed because extremely cold conditions in the polar atmosphere helped chlorine and bromine pollutants destroy ozone through chemical processes (6:198).
Late in 1985, British scientists published findings based on ozone measurements made at the Halley Bay station in the Antarctic. Ozone levels recorded during the Antarctic springtime (September-November) were about 40 percent lowe
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