ozone

Ozone Layer on Track for Full Recovery, WMO Report Says

Ozone Layer on Track for Full Recovery, WMO Report Says

Earth’s ozone layer — damaged in the 1970s and 1980s by ozone-depleting substances — is continuing to recover well, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s newest Ozone and UV Bulletin, released to coincide with World Ozone Day. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres noted that the planet’s ozone layer over Antarctica was on track for […]

Join our newsletter

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    Another Hole in the Ozone Layer? Climate Change May Be to Blame

    Another Hole in the Ozone Layer? Climate Change May Be to Blame

    By Jeremy Deaton You may have heard about the hole in the ozone layer, which hovers over Antarctica. It has shrunk over time thanks to policies that curbed the use of ozone-depleting chemicals. In the nearly 40 years that NASA has kept track, it has never been smaller. That’s the good news. The bad news […]

    Record Ozone Hole Over the Arctic Has Closed

    Record Ozone Hole Over the Arctic Has Closed

    An unusual phenomenon happened in March and April when an enormous hole in the ozone layer formed over the Arctic. Last week, though, scientists tracking the hole noticed that it has closed, as CNN reported. Unlike the infamous hole in the ozone over Antarctica, which was caused by overuse of now illegal chemicals containing chlorofluorocarbons, […]

    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 […]