Antartic History

History Ship of exploration of the Antarctic continent and of support to the base of pesquisasEm 1950, in the International Council of the Scientific Union (ICSU), the possibility was discussed of being accomplished the Third International Polar Year. For suggestion of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the concept of polar year was extended for the whole globe, being born like this the International Geophysical Year, that came taking place of July of 1957 to December of 1958. ICSU approved, in 1957, the creation of the Special Committee for Antarctic Researches (SCAR), formed by delegates of several countries engaged in Antarctic researches. That went an important mark to the development of the researches in the Continent, tends of them participated: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, United States of America, France, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, United Kingdom, African South Republic and Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics.
Contained the International Geophysical Year, the participant countries of the Antarctic researches maintained its stations, reaffirming its interest in the area, what motivated the summons done by United States for the conference of Washington, DC in 1958, that the future of the continent would discuss. As a result of the conference of Washington, the twelve countries that you/they participated in her they signed, on December 1, 1959, the Agreement of Antártida, that went into effect on June 23, 1961.
The Agreement of Antártida is a document signed on December 1, 1959 by the countries that claimed the ownership of parts of the continent of Antártida, in that they commit to suspend its pretenses for an indefinite period, allowing the freedom of scientific exploration of the continent, in a regime of international cooperation.
Ambit THE agreement possesses a juridical regime that it extends the other countries, besides the 12 initials, the possibility of if they turn advisory parts in the discussions that govern the " status " of the continent when, demonstrating its interest, they accomplish activities of scientific research you nourish.
The area embraced by the Agreement of Antarctica locates to the south of the parallel 60, and in her its 14 goods are applied, that consecrate beginnings as the freedom for the scientific research, the international cooperation for this end and the peaceful use of Antarctica, prohibiting the militarização of the area and its use expressly for nuclear explosions or as deposit of radioactive residues. Many governments maintain stations of researches in Antarctica. A total of 27 countries, signatories of the Agreement of Antártida operate sazonalmente (they will see) or during the whole year in the stations of researches in the whole continent and in surrounding oceans. The population that works in the stations varies among 1.000 in the winter and 4.000 in the summer

Ozone layer hole reaches record size

The "ozone hole" over Antarctica this year has matched the record size of 11.4 million square miles, the U.N. weather agency said Friday.

The area of the so-called hole - a thinning in the ozone layer during the South Pole winter - is the same as in the record year of 2000, according to measurements by NASA, said Geir Braathen, ozone specialist at the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization.

But Braathen said of greater concern is that the amount of ozone gas particles remaining in the hole is even lower than in 2000, a measurement called "the mass deficit." According to the European Space Agency, the loss has been 39.8 megatons, he said.

"In a way this mass deficit is a better measure of how much ozone is depleted ... because it counts how many tons of ozone are lacking," Braathen told The Associated Press.

The thinner layer this year "will lead to more ultraviolet radiation on the ground," Braathen said.

Too much ultraviolet radiation can cause skin cancer and destroy tiny plants at the beginning of the food chain.

Thinning in the ozone layer - largely due to the chemical compounds chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, leaked from refrigerators, air conditioners and other devices - exposes Earth to harmful solar rays. Under a 1997 international treaty, most countries have agreed to reduce use of the ozone depleting chemicals, and scientists are predicting the ozone layer will eventually recover.

The hole has been forming in the extremely low temperatures that mark the end of Antarctic winter every year since the mid-1980s. Generally, the hole is biggest around late September

Measurements of the ozone layer over Antarctica by a European satellite have shown a record loss in the shield that protects the Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

The ozone hole is nearly as wide as it was in 2000 and nearly as deep as it was in 1998, the European Space Agency said Monday. The record loss was reached because these dimensions occurred at the same time.

The ESA's Envisat measured a total ozone loss of 40 million tonnes, beating the record of 39 million tonnes set in 2000.

"Such significant ozone loss requires very low temperatures in the stratosphere combined with sunlight," ESA atmospheric engineer Claus Zehner said in a statement.

The ozone layer is the part of the atmosphere 25 kilometres up that acts as a shield protecting life on Earth from damaging UV rays, which can cause sunburns, skin cancer and cataracts. The rays can also harm marine life.

The ozone layer has decreased globally by about 0.3 per cent per year. The loss is seen as a hole over the South Pole because of atmospheric and wind conditions during the southern winter.