A pair of studies published in the journal Nature in February reported that atmospheric concentrations of ozone-damaging CFC chemicals have dropped precipitously since 2018 and that the recovery of the ozone layer was now “back on track”. The ozone layer is a thin part of the Earth’s atmosphere that protects us by absorbing the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. There has been a lot of buzz around the ozone layer since its depletion was detected in 1985. The discovery brought the nations together in a treaty called the 1987 Montreal Protocol. They pledged to phase out ozone-harming chemicals, particularly chlorofluorocarbon or CFC, from 2010. The current decline, perhaps, corresponds with a global ban on CFC production.
But in 2018, a study revealed that “the concentration of CFCs in the atmosphere wasn’t falling as quickly as we would expect”.
“That’s where it all started – we wanted to know what was happening,” said Dr Western. “The work I was involved in showed that this [extra CFC-11] was primarily coming from East China.”
Dr Western and his colleagues used data from air monitoring stations in South Korea and Japan.
Further detective work in China by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) – and by environmental journalists – found that the chemical was being used in the majority of polyurethane insulation foam that was being produced by firms in the region.
The scientists stressed that the scale of this illegal production may never be revealed in full. But this combination – of chemistry, investigative journalism and enforcement of the Montreal Protocol, the researchers say, has avoided significant delays to the healing of the ozone layer.
“First we noticed that the pollution spikes in the region were falling, so likely the nearby polluters were stopping, or at least reducing, their emissions.
“And then we saw that, in 2019, emissions had really fallen back to the levels we hadn’t seen since before 2013, which is when we first saw this uptick.”
Researchers say the recovery of the ozone layer is now “back on track”.
“So later this century we should see recovery of the ozone layer back to levels that we saw in 1980,” Dr Western added.
Credit : BBC
Picture Credit : Google
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