![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081103155041im_/http://veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov//9543/ozone_destruction_pre.thumb.png)
Images & Animations
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Credit
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Chemical Model Animation of O3 Losing an Oxygen Atom to a Radical
Chemical Model Animation of CFC's Releasing Chlorine to Form Reservoir Gases
Ozone is very reactive. It easily loses the third oxygen atom in the presence of other highly reactive compounds called radicals, which contain chlorine, hydrogen, nitrogen, or bromine. Minute quantities of these radicals can cause large decreases in ozone because they are not consumed in the reaction. This is called a catalytic cycle.
Most stratospheric chlorine comes from man-made compounds called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. CFC's, widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners, are quite harmless and non-reactive in the lower atmosphere. Carried slowly upward by the earth's winds, they can survive the 5 year journey to the upper stratosphere. Here, above most of the ozone layer, the sun's ultraviolet radiation breaks down the CFC's into the more reactive chlorine compounds that destroy ozone. Chlorine can react with methane to form hydrogen chloride. Chlorine can also react with ozone forming the radical chlorine monoxide. Chlorine monoxide then combines with the radical nitrogen dioxide to form stable chlorine nitrate. Chlorine nitrate and hydrogen chloride are called reservoir gases for the chlorine radical. These reservoir gases usually contain more than ninety percent of the chlorine in the lower stratosphere.
O3 losing an oxygen atom to a radical
Metadata
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Sensor
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Animation ID
825 -
Video ID
SVS1999-1001 -
Start Timecode
1:20:58:05 -
End Timecode
1:22:33:00 -
Animator
James W. Williams, Jesse Allen, Greg Shirah -
Studio
SVS -
Visualization Date
1999/04/09 -
Scientist
Mark Schoeberl (NASA/GSFC) -
Keywords
Ozone, Oxygen -
Data Date
None -
Story URL
stories/UARS/ozone_models.html -
Animation Type
Regular