Word: layer
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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Meanwhile, some of the harm already done will not easily be repaired and may have far-reaching impact. For many years, the industrial nations have been releasing chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere, not realizing that these chemicals were destroying the ozone layer, which shields the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation. Because of the vagaries of air currents, ozone depletion has been most severe over Antarctica. It was the discovery in 1983 of an "ozone hole" over the continent that first alerted scientists to the immediacy of the CFC threat...
Along about February the annual exodus begins in earnest. Once the cold season takes hold, planes stop making regular flights to inland stations, and the ice layer spreads out to sea, making access by ship nearly impossible. Only a few hundred residents stay through the winter...