Ozone Hole Attributed to Solar Maximum

In the 20 September issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, Linwood Callis (NASA) and Murali Natarajan (SASC Technologies) suggest that the recently hyperactive Sun, rather than manmade pollution, bears primary responsibility for the mysterious and troubling “ozone hole” that has for several years been appearing every October over the South Pole. They point out that 1979–80 witnessed one of the most intense solar maxima in centuries. This, they argue, would account for the striking increase in the level of “odd‐nitrogen compounds”—various oxides of nitrogen—observed in the stratosphere between 1979 and 1984. Produced in an atmospheric layer above the stratosphere with the aid of sunlight and solar wind, these molecules can participate catalytically in the destruction of ozone.