Scientists claim that the ozone layer's hole will close in 2070 as the level of chemical emissions continues to fall. They said that the hole gets smaller and smaller every year.
The Ozone Layer Closes in 2070
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) measures the hole every year. According to Good News Network, the agency said that, due to the decrease in emissions coming from air conditioning and refrigeration, it is possible that the hole will close in 50 years.
Euronews.green reported that in early 2022, NOAA scientists found that there was a 50% decline in chemical concentration in the mid-level of the stratosphere as they compared it to the record in the 1980s.
The scientists say that it is a significant milestone on the path to recovery.
Antarctic Hole Decreases Every Year
Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said that the 2022 Antarctic ozone hole started to develop in late August. It has followed similar trends from the last decade in terms of area, mass deficit, minimum temperature, and minimum total column.
This hole is larger than usual, which is bigger than the size of the continent itself.
It usually begins forming during spring in the Southern Hemisphere around August to October. Then it reaches its maximum size between mid-September and October. The ozone levels return to normal by the end of December.
Peuch said that from the start of September the size of the ozone hole is within the average range. However, they will be watching it very closely in the next few weeks as the 2020 and 2021 ozone holes only started to become exceptional later on.
Yet, the good news is that the chemical concentrations over Antarctica, where a hole appears every year, are also dropping but at a slower rate.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) is monitoring the hole. CAMS scientists have been using three-dimensional modeling to closely monitor the hole's development since the end of August this year.
International Day for the Protection of the Ozone Layer
On Sep. 16, the International Day for the Protection of the Ozone Layer reached its 35th anniversary. During the occasion, the recounted how the Montreal Protocol ended one of the biggest threats that humanity could ever face: ozone layer depletion.
When it was discovered that man-made chemicals used in aerosol sprays and cooling were causing a hole in the sky, the entire world came together. The Montreal Protocol was adopted in 1987 by governments to control and reduce ozone-depleting substances, primarily chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons. The Protocol entered into force in 1989. It was the first and only UN environmental agreement to be ratified by every country on the planet by 2008. The ozone layer is healing as over 99 percent of ozone-depleting substances have been phased out.
A study published in Nature journal estimated that, if the Montreal Protocol had not banned CFCs, less carbon would have been absorbed and stored in plants, vegetation, and soil. The Earth's carbon sink potentially leads to an additional 0.5 - 1 C of global warming.
RELATED ARTICLE: New Hole in Ozone Layer Above Tropical Regions Found, 7 Times Bigger than the One Over Antarctic Continent
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