There, they trigger a series of chemical reactions in which they grab more oxygen atoms from ozone molecules, destroying them. Another scientific test has confirmed the widespread extent of the ground-level ozone hole. Colo. Left to its own devices, a single bromine molecule can take apart 1,000 molecules of ozone. Deceptive beauty For such a destructive force, the bromine and chlorine can appear in deceptively beautiful forms. Fields of frost flowers that are less than an inch across can carpet the Arctic landscape, creating an Ozlike world.
Taste reveals that frost flowers are full of bitter sea salt.
Even the most remote regions of the Arctic aren't free from ozone destruction, as experiments at Summit, Greenland, have shown. Tucked in the middle of the Greenland ice cap, Summit displays some of the most pristine snow in the world, said Dr. Matthew Peterson, of Michigan Technological University in Houghton. Yet even there, sea salt and other pollutants arrive on the wind and settle into the snow. Experiments at Summit have documented the same rapid destruction of ozone, Dr. Peterson said. The drop in ozone isn't the only major change observed in Alert.