Antarctic ice threatened by ozone-hole recovery

Global winds could accelerate melting.
Amanda Leigh Haag
The ozone hole (here shown in September 2006) may have delayed Antarctic warming.NASARecovery of the ozone hole above Antarctica could warm the Antarctic and cause more ice to melt in coming decades, researchers say. As the ozone hole heals, wind patterns that shield the interior of the polar region from warm air may break down, causing warming in the Antarctica as well as warmer and drier conditions in Australia.

Despite global temperatures rising, the interior of Antarctica has experienced a unique cooling trend during its summer and autumn over the last few decades. Scientists attribute this cooling to the hole in the ozone layer, which alters atmospheric circulation patterns and strengthens the westerly winds that swirl around the continent. These winds have isolated the Antarctic interior from the warming patterns seen on the continent’s peninsula and throughout the rest of the world.

“The warming of the Antarctic may have been delayed because of the ozone hole,” says atmospheric scientist Judith Perlwitz, a climate scientist at the of the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol that banned the release of ozone-depleting substances, most scientists agree that the ozone hole has probably reached its largest and that ozone levels will recover by the end of the century.
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What is going on here? Is it hot or cold? Has Global Warming, gone the way of the killer bees??? On to the next multi billion dollar, socialist fear mongering?? Gimme a break!