New Zealanders have the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, and this is due partly due to the extreme levels of summertime UV we experience. The amount of UV radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface is controlled by the amount of ozone in the atmosphere, and the integrity of ozone layer has been threatened by the release of long-lived man-made chemicals (CFCs) that break down in the atmosphere to produce chemicals that catalytically destroy ozone. Ozone depletion is especially rapid in the cold air over Antarctica, and leads to the formation of the springtime Antarctic ozone hole. In the summer, ozone-poor air from can move over New Zealand, exacerbating the problem. Our role is to understand the causes and effects of ozone depletion, to inform the public of the risk, how that risk compares with other locations, and how it has changed with time, and how we expect it to evolve in the future. |