Human Impact
Humans have had an extremely negative impact on the Antarctic's climate and sea life. The two major impacts are climate change and the ozone hole. Climate change has been caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels because burning fossil fuels releases co2 into the carbon cycle and due to the increase in co2 there are more greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses reside in the atmosphere trapping solar energy that is rebounding off the earths surface in the form of heat, this causes the earths average temperature to rise. This rise in temperature is very bad for the antarctic because it causes the ice to melt, this does not directly effect ocean life but for the antarctic food chain as a whole the loss of species living in antarctica will cause massive problems with the antarctic ocean's food chain.
The hole in the ozone is caused by cloroflourocarbons traveling up into the atmosphere and breaking up the recycling process of the ozone. The ozone layer is made up of o3 particles, when these particles break apart they reform, most likely with other oxygen molecules to form o3 again. Cloroflourocarbons are travel into the atmosphere and when the cloroflourocarbons break apart they cause the oxygen particles to latch on to the new molecules that have been introduced into the cycle and not create o3. This causes the ozone layer to thin and every year the majority of the cloroflourocarbons pool over antarctica and the surrounding area creating a hole. This is an issue because the hole in the ozone allows UV radiation to reach the earth which has harmful effects on wildlife. Also the cloroflourocarbons can be introduced into the antarctic food chain through the water again having harmful effects on the wildlife.
The hole in the ozone is caused by cloroflourocarbons traveling up into the atmosphere and breaking up the recycling process of the ozone. The ozone layer is made up of o3 particles, when these particles break apart they reform, most likely with other oxygen molecules to form o3 again. Cloroflourocarbons are travel into the atmosphere and when the cloroflourocarbons break apart they cause the oxygen particles to latch on to the new molecules that have been introduced into the cycle and not create o3. This causes the ozone layer to thin and every year the majority of the cloroflourocarbons pool over antarctica and the surrounding area creating a hole. This is an issue because the hole in the ozone allows UV radiation to reach the earth which has harmful effects on wildlife. Also the cloroflourocarbons can be introduced into the antarctic food chain through the water again having harmful effects on the wildlife.