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Earth's System: The Atmosphere
The Ozone Shield
Description
The Ozone Shield
The ozone hole is a seasonal thinning of the ozone layer high in Earth’s stratosphere, most noticeable over Antarctica. The ozone layer acts as a protective shield, blocking harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. Human-made chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) a...
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Transcript
The ozone layer lies high above Earth in the stratosphere. This thin layer of gas acts like a shield, blocking most of the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.
Without it, UV radiation would cause more skin cancer, cataracts, crop damage, and harm to ocean life.
In the late 1900s, scientists discovered that chemicals called ch...
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