Author: Purple Brolly

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who operate in research stations in the British Antarctic Territory, published their discovery of the ‘hole’ in the ozone layer in 1985. They had been taking measurements since 1957 on the same piece of equipment and were therefore confident in the readings which showed a drop in the Dobson Units (DU) from 300 to 220 ~ this constituted the ‘hole’.

Following their discovery with its global implications, the countries of the world have apparently united to reduce the amount of harmful gases emitted and the situation is improving little by little. Provided this continues, the ozone layer should have recovered in fifty years’ time.

(Image of BAS plane: Rob Hodgkins at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Loch Ness Monster, or ‘Nessie’ as she is affectionately known, has long been a draw for tourists to the Inverness area of the Scottish Highlands. This is in spite of the only evidence for her existence being a few blurry long-distance photographs which have apparently been shown to be fakes.

Loch Ness is the UK’s largest lake by volume, being 23 miles long, a mile wide and 755 feet deep. Its sides and bottom are smooth, making it the perfect shape for the phenomenon of tidal bores and seiches, like an enormous lava wave motion machine. Some scientists say that the wind sets off the back-and-forth movement of the water, others that it is a tidal effect from the adjacent North Sea which lifts the British Isles up and down all the time.

Modern wave tanks can be used to demonstrate how these wave motions create shapes which might appear to be huge sea creatures. However, the mystery surrounding the shy, solitary creature remains and scientists continue to come up with new methods of investigation. For instance, in 1987 they methodically swept the loch with sonar and in 2018 there was a search of all DNA in the Loch. Nessie eludes them all.

(Top image of Loch Ness: David Dixon at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-NC 2.0)