In this NASA false color image, blue and purple show the hole in the Earth’s protective ozone layer in Antarctica on October 5, 2022. The Earth’s protective ozone layer is slowly but surely recovering quickly which will quickly repair the hole in Antarctica. about 43 years, a new UN report said.
NASA AP
Earth’s protective ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades, closing the ozone hole first discovered in the 1980s, a UN-backed panel of experts announced Monday.
The findings of the scientific assessment, published every four years, follow the Montreal Protocol of 1987, which banned the production and consumption of chemicals that deplete the planet’s ozone layer.
The ozone layer in the upper atmosphere protects the Earth from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, which is linked to skin cancer, eye cataracts, damaged immune systems and damage to agricultural land.
Scientists say the recovery is gradual and will take years. If current policies persist, the ozone layer will recover to 1980 levels – before the ozone hole appeared – by 2040, the report says, and will return to normal in the Arctic by 2045. In addition, Antarctica could experience normalization. level in 2066.
Scientists and environmental groups have long hailed the global ban on ozone-depleting chemicals as one of the most critical environmental achievements to date, and could set a precedent for more regulation of climate-warming emissions.
“Ozone action is a precedent for climate action,” Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization Prof. Petteri Taalas said in a statement. “Our success in phasing out ozone-depleting chemicals shows us what can and must be done – as a matter of urgency – to transition away from fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gases and limit temperature rise.”
Scientists say global emissions of the banned chemical chlorofluorocarbon-11, or CFC-11, which is used as a refrigerant and in insulating foam, have fallen since 2018 after rising unexpectedly for years. Most of the unexpected CFC-11 emissions came from eastern China, the report said.
The report also found that the ozone-depleting chemical chlorine has decreased by 11.5% in the stratosphere since its peak in 1993, while bromine has decreased by 14.5% in the stratosphere since its peak in 1999.
Scientists also warn that efforts to artificially cool the earth by injecting aerosols into the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight can dilute the ozone layer, and warn that further research into new technologies like geoengineering is necessary.
Researchers with the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Commission contributed to the assessment.
