The ozone layer may be recovering above Antarctica, but not over the equator:
Thirty years after nations banded together to phase out chemicals that destroy stratospheric ozone, the gaping hole in the earth's ultraviolet (UV) radiation shield above Antarctica is shrinking. But new findings suggest that at mid-latitudes, where most people live, the ozone layer in the lower stratosphere is growing more tenuous--for reasons that scientists are struggling to fathom.
"I don't want people to panic or get overly worried," says William Ball, an atmospheric physicist at the Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos World Radiation Centre in Switzerland. "But there is something happening in the lower stratosphere that's important to understand."
Several recent studies, including one published last month in Geophysical Research Letters, point to a robust recovery of stratospheric ozone concentrations over Antarctica--the long-awaited payoff after the Montreal Protocol in 1987 mandated a global phase-out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-eating compounds.
But recent evidence indicates that the global campaign to mend the ozone layer is far from over. In an analysis published today in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Ball and colleagues combined satellite data to examine ozone at mid-latitudes, from Earth's surface on up through the troposphere and the stratosphere. They found that from 1998 to 2016, ozone in the lower stratosphere ebbed by 2.2 Dobson units--a measure of ozone thickness--even as concentrations in the upper stratosphere rose by about 0.8 Dobson units. "We saw it at almost every latitude and every altitude below about 25 kilometers," Ball says. "That made us very concerned that perhaps this was something very real that no one looked at before."
Also at the Imperial College London and Newsweek.
Evidence for a continuous decline in lower stratospheric ozone offsetting ozone layer recovery (open, DOI: 10.5194/acp-18-1379-2018) (DX)
Decline in Antarctic Ozone Depletion and Lower Stratospheric Chlorine Determined From Aura Microwave Limb Sounder Observations (DOI: 10.1002/2017GL074830) (DX)
Previously: Ozone Layer Hole at its Smallest Size Since 1988
Related Stories
NASA: Ozone hole smallest it's been since 1988
NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been monitoring the ozone hole since it was first discovered in 1985. The agencies use satellites, weather balloons and ground-based instruments to study and track the hole. The ozone hole changes throughout the year and reached its 2017 peak size on Sept. 11 at the end of the region's wintertime.
Scientists weren't surprised by the size of the hole this year. "This is what we would expect to see given the weather conditions in the Antarctic stratosphere," says Paul A. Newman, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA cites warmer global temperatures as a factor in reducing the hole.
But don't get too excited. NASA says the smaller hole "is due to natural variability and not a signal of rapid healing." The ozone hole still covered 7.6 million square miles (nearly 20 million square kilometers), or over two and a half times the size of Australia. Still, scientists are optimistic about the ozone hole eventually healing over time.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday February 08 2018, @08:15AM (1 child)
You can't use hairspray because hairspray is going to affect the ozone. They want me to use the pump because the other one, which I really like better than going bing, bing, bing, and then it comes out in big globs, right? And it's stuck in your hair, and you say, "oh my God, I got to take a shower again, my hair's all screwed up!" Right? I want to use hairspray. I wanna use hairspray! They say, "don't use hairspray, it's bad for the ozone!"
A lot of it's a hoax, it's a hoax. I mean, it's a money-making industry. You have showers where I can't wash my hair properly. It's a disaster.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @09:41AM
Donnie,
http://www.nationalaerosol.com/history-of-the-aerosol/ [nationalaerosol.com]
It's not about the hair spray you need to keep comb-over in place.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday February 08 2018, @09:51AM
> ozone layer is recovering in antartica
> global warming is warming up antartica
two wrongs make a right sometimes, you meatbags relocate to antartica and leave us the rest, everybody wins.
this post brought to you by the fourth directive.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday February 08 2018, @12:02PM
It's the equator, so it's where the earth is the fattest. So doesn't it makes sense that it bulges out there and makes things thinner there? Earth needs a diet. #Planetaryfatshaming
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 08 2018, @01:19PM
So there isn't an increase in UV exposure (though probably combined with increased ground level exposure to ozone).
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:21PM (1 child)
Interesting trivia fact: The reason you can't buy Primatene mist epinephrine inhalers in the US is because the propellant was a CFC.
This was a fantastic (and cheap!) over-the-counter item to have in your first aid kit for treatment of allergic reactions and asthma.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:44PM
Looks like it took about 8 months to come up with a replacement. [pharmacytimes.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 08 2018, @07:11PM
So I take it the Global Warming myth is failing so they need a new boogieman.