ozone

Wildfire Smoke Linked to Ozone Layer Damage

Wildfire Smoke Linked to Ozone Layer Damage

A new study led by chemists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that wildfire smoke particles, which can remain in the stratosphere for a year, can cause chemical reactions that deplete the protective ozone layer. The findings occurred during the megafire in Australia in December 2019 to January 2020. The study, published in the […]

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    Record Ozone Hole Forms Over Arctic

    Record Ozone Hole Forms Over Arctic

    A record-sized hole has opened in the ozone layer over the Arctic, The Guardian reported Tuesday. While both poles lose some ozone during their winters, the Arctic tends to lose much less than Antarctica, where the larger and more famous ozone hole is located, the European Space Agency (ESA) explained. This year’s anomaly is the […]

    Human Cooperation Can Restore Climate Patterns: The Case of the Ozone Layer and the Southern Jet Stream

    Human Cooperation Can Restore Climate Patterns: The Case of the Ozone Layer and the Southern Jet Stream

    Emissions from the chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons used as refrigerants and aerosols didn’t just burn a hole in the ozone layer. They also shifted the Southern Hemisphere’s jet stream south towards Antarctica. Now, a study published in Nature Wednesday found that the 1987 Montreal Protocol banning those substances wasn’t just successful in helping to repair the […]

    Ozone-Depleting Substances May Have Driven Arctic Warming, Study Finds

    Ozone-Depleting Substances May Have Driven Arctic Warming, Study Finds

    The world awakened to the hole in the ozone layer in 1985, which scientists attributed it to ozone-depleting substances. Two years later, in Montreal, the world agreed to ban the halogen compounds causing the massive hole over Antarctica. Research now shows that those chemicals didn’t just cut a hole in the ozone layer, they also […]

    Saving the Ozone Layer 30 Years Ago Slowed Global Warming. Can Similar Cooperation Now Solve the Climate Crisis?

    Saving the Ozone Layer 30 Years Ago Slowed Global Warming. Can Similar Cooperation Now Solve the Climate Crisis?

    The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 international treaty prohibiting the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to save the ozone layer, was the first successful multilateral agreement to successfully slow the rate of global warming, according to new research. Now, experts argue that similar measures may lend hope to the climate crisis. “By mass CFCs are thousands of […]

    Ozone Depleting Gas Declines After Rising For Years

    Ozone Depleting Gas Declines After Rising For Years

    An ozone depleting gas is on the decline after rising since 2012, according to preliminary data reported by scientists yesterday, as the New York Times reported. Scientists were previously shocked to learn that levels of a banned gas, the most abundant form of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) known as CFC-11, which was supposed to have been worldwide […]

    Record-Breaking Heat Wave Bakes Australia

    Record-Breaking Heat Wave Bakes Australia

    Australia is sweating through yet another record breaking heat wave, with the past four days among the country’s 10 hottest days on record, the Bureau of Meteorology announced Tuesday. The town of Port Augusta in South Australia hit 48.9 degrees Celsius (approximately 120 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, the highest temperature since record keeping began there […]

    Scientists Link Southern Ocean’s Rapid Warming to Human Activity

    Scientists Link Southern Ocean’s Rapid Warming to Human Activity

    In the past few decades, the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica has gotten less salty and has warmed at roughly twice the rate of global oceans overall. Now, in a new study, scientists found convincing evidence that these trends are the result of two human influences: climate change from greenhouse gas emissions and the depletion of […]

    Judge Orders EPA to Comply With Clean Air Act in Ozone Lawsuit

    Judge Orders EPA to Comply With Clean Air Act in Ozone Lawsuit

    A federal judge ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take action to fight air pollution entering New York and Connecticut from five other states, Reuters reported. The EPA had until August 2017 to complete plans for states that failed to adapt to new ozone air-quality standards set by the agency in 2008, but […]