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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
By John Bryson On Jan. 1, Singapore introduced a “no smoking zone” along a three kilometer (approximately 1.9 mile) stretch of Orchard Road—one of the city’s busiest shopping districts. It sounds controversial—restricting people’s right to smoke in public spaces, as a way of tackling air pollution and improving public health. But smoking is not actually […]
After decades of thinning, Earth’s ozone layer is slowing recovering, the United Nations (UN) said in a report released Monday, highlighting how international co-operation can help tackle major environmental issues. The ozone layer, which protects humans and other species from the sun’s highly hazardous ultraviolet radiation, has been declining since the 1970s due to the […]