#ozone hole

[hope-for-the-planet]

Study: The ozone hole is healing, thanks to global reduction of CFCs

An MIT-led study confirms the Antarctic ozone layer is healing as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances.

From the article:

A new MIT-led study confirms that the Antarctic ozone layer is healing, as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances. Scientists including the MIT team have observed signs of ozone recovery in the past. But the new study is the first to show, with high statistical confidence, that this recovery is due primarily to the reduction of ozone-depleting substances, versus other influences such as natural weather variability or increased greenhouse gas emissions to the stratosphere. “There’s been a lot of qualitative evidence showing that the Antarctic ozone hole is getting better. This is really the first study that has quantified confidence in the recovery of the ozone hole,” says study author Susan Solomon, the Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies and Chemistry. “The conclusion is, with 95 percent confidence, it is recovering. Which is awesome. And it shows we can actually solve environmental problems.”

My favorite quote from the article:

“By something like 2035, we might see a year when there’s no ozone hole depletion at all in the Antarctic. And that will be very exciting for me,” she says. “And some of you will see the ozone hole go away completely in your lifetimes. And people did that.”

[escuerzoresucitado]

Advierten que el agujero en la capa de ozono está sobre el sur del país: a qué ciudades afecta

Según datos satelitales del programa Copernicus, el fenómeno comenzó a las 9 de la mañana y avanzará durante la madrugada. Qué fenómenos pod

Hi,do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, the Sun? Me neither, because I'm getting an unsolicited extra dose of its holy radiation. For just the price of a latte, you can help shade a fellow human from celestial overexposure. I'm basically a walking, underfunded science project. 🥺

[technotropic-tales]

What Happened To The Ozone Layer ?

Remember when the ozone layer had a massive, growing hole? Well, now it’s shrinking.

[hope-for-the-planet]

The area of depleted ozone over the Antarctic ranked the seventh smallest since recovery began in 1992.

From the article:

A hole that opens annually in the ozone layer over Earth’s southern pole was relatively small in 2024 compared to other years. Scientists with NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) project the ozone layer could fully recover by 2066. During the peak of ozone depletion season from September 7 through October 13, the 2024 area of the ozone hole ranked the seventh smallest since recovery began in 1992, when the Montreal Protocol, a landmark international agreement to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals, began to take effect.

There's a reason you don't hear about the hole in the ozone layer much anymore--it's been on the mend since the global community banned ozone-depleting chemicals in 1992. Remember that it is possible for the world to come together to solve large scale environmental problems.

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

"Good News🎉 Healing continues in the atmosphere over the Antarctic, with this year’s #ozone hole ranking as 7th smallest since recovery began! @NOAA and @NASA scientists project the ozone layer could fully recover by 2066.

Read more: " - NOAA Research

2024 Antarctic ozone hole ranks 7th-smallest since recovery began

Ozone layer could ‘fully recover’ by 2066

[theupfish]

The ozone layer is not only healing, but will likely be back to its 1980-state within a Millennial's lifetime

The Earth's ozone layer is slowly recovering, UN report finds

The upper atmosphere ozone layer protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, which is linked to skin cancer, eye cataracts and ag

[alpaca-clouds]

Why Nobody Talks About The Ozone Hole Any Longer

Something I have come across more and more in the last two years or so are right wing climate change deniars going: "Oh, it is typical for liberals to make a big thing out of nothing. I mean when have you last heard about the Ozone hole?! Just another meaningless outrage."

And of course everyone who actually follows science will sit there: "Uhm, yeah. We do not hear about the ozone hole anymore anymore, because... we fixed it. We enacted politics, they worked, the Ozone hole is fixed. Hurray. NOW PLEASE CAN WE DO THE SAME FOR CLIMATE CHANGE?!"

But let me quickly talk about what happened with the ozone hole. Because it was a frustrating thing, that was badly communicated for the most part.

Long story short: In the 70s scientists notized that the ozone layer surrounding our planet was depleating. It is a layer within the atmosphere mostly filled with Ozone (O3), that acts as a big filter for harmful radiation reaching our planet from space. Mostly it is interesting because it filters out some of the harmful radiations that get to our planet from the sun.

Those scientists figured out too, why the ozone layer was depleating: Certain chemicals that we were using made their way up to the atmosphere and reacted with the ozone, and with that creating new molecules, which depleated the ozone. Some of the main chemicals were chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Now, again, this was in the mid 70s, and the first thing that happened was a familiar story: The scientists went to politicians, told them about them, and the companies using the CFCs were like: "But do you know REALLY?" And of course all needed almost 10 years to get the ball rolling.

Still, by 1985 some European countries started to put up laws that regulated the use of CFCs and some other chemicals that were used in ACs, in stuff like hairspray, and in refrigerators. And by '89 the world came together and put in an actual international action plan to do something about it.

So yes, most of us who are on this website were actually born at a point where this already was being politically addressed. And while throughout my own childhood and youth the ozone hole was still a bit of a problem, the new laws managed to fix the issue. The ozone hole has mostly closed up.

Which is why the real reason is more like: Why did we manage that and somehow are so incapable of fixing climate change? Because yeah, the ozone hole was a problem - but not comparable to the bloody climate change!

But yeah, the reason why we don't talk about the ozone hole anymore? We listened to scientists, enacted new politics, and we fixed the problem. Hurray us.

[mapsontheweb]

Maximum Yearly Extent of the Ozone Hole since 1979