The ozone layer vulnerability recovers – complete recovery in the next 43 years

A new UN report states that The ozone layer that protects Earth is slowly recovering to such an extent that it will completely close the ozone hole over Antarctica in regarding the next 43 years.

The Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, conducted every four years, finds that recovery is ongoing. This is more than 35 years ago, following all countries around the world agreed to stop producing chemicals that destroy the ozone layer in the atmosphere. This protects the planet from harmful radiation that has been linked to skin cancer, cataracts and crop damage.

Ozone hole over the South Pole on 16 September 2021 (AP Photo/European Space Agency, ESA)

Paul Newman, co-chair of the Scientific Assessment, said: “You can see things are improving in the upper stratosphere and in the ozone hole.”

A report presented at a recent meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Denver, Colorado, noted that The recovery of the ozone layer is slow. The global average of ozone 18 miles or 30 kilometers high in the atmosphere will not return to pre-1980 levels until 2040, nor will it. return to normal levels in the Arctic until 2045.

The report also states that Antarctica’s ozone layer, which is so thin that a huge hole forms every year in the atmosphere there. It will not be fully restored until 2066.

In this NASA false-color image, the blue and purple shows the hole in Earth’s protective ozone layer over Antarctica on Oct. 5, 2022.

Scientists and environmental activists around the world have applauded efforts to save the long-standing ozone hole. It started with an agreement in 1987 known as the Montreal Protocol. on the ban on the use of chemicals that are commonly used in refrigerants and suspended solids in the air This is one of the greatest ecological victories for mankind.

Professor Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said in a statement: “Ozone activity is a model for climate action. Our success in eliminating ozone-depleting chemicals shows what can and needs to be done. and phasing out fossil fuels reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting global temperature rise. These are all things that need to be done urgently.”

The false-color view of total ozone over the Antarctic pole (l) and Arctic pole (r) on March 6, 2014. The purple and blue colors are where there is the least ozone, and the yellows and reds are where there is more ozone.

Newman, Chief Earth Scientist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said. The two main chemicals that escape the ozone layer are at lower levels in the atmosphere. and the report states that Chlorine levels have dropped 11.5% since peaking in 1993 and bromine, which has the potential to destroy the ozone layer, has dropped 14.5% since peaking in 1999.

Newman said that bromine and chlorine levels “Stop rising and falling power is a true testament to the effectiveness of the Montreal Protocol.”

David W. Fahey, Director of the Chemical Sciences Laboratory of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, said that several decades ago People can go into stores and buy canned refrigerants that destroy the ozone layer. and polluting the atmosphere. but is rarely used in the home or in the car as well Because those have been replaced by cleaner chemicals.

Newman went on to say that Natural weather patterns in Antarctica also affect ozone hole levels. Especially in autumn, and in the past few years, the ozone hole has grown slightly for this reason. But the overall trend is that this ozone hole is recovering.

Inger Andersen, United Nations Environment Program Director told the AP earlier this year, “This recovery saves regarding two million lives a year from skin cancer.”

• source: AP