Researchers at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Space (NASA) found the ozone hole above Antarcticathe North Pole shrank to 23.2 million square km, slightly less than last year.
“Over time, steady progress has been made and the hole continues to shrink,” said Paul Newman, chief scientist for earth sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA.
“We see some skepticism as changes in the weather and other factors have kept numbers low from day to day and week to week. But overall, we have seen that it continues to decline over the past two decades. Elimination of harmful content. ozone through the Monteral Protocol is shrinking the hole, “he added.
Launch site United Nations Environment ProgramThe Montreal Protocol on Ozone-depleting Ingredients is “a major multilateral environmental agreement regulating the production and consumption of nearly 100 man-made ozone depleting substances (ODS)”
When released into the atmosphere, these chemicals destroy the ozone layer in the stratosphere, the Earth’s protective shield that protects humans and the environment from harmful levels of ultraviolet light. Adopted on September 16, 1987, the Montreal Protocol is the only United Nations treaty ratified by all countries of the world, all 198 member states of the United Nations.
The ozone layer above the Arctic thins each September and forms the ozone hole. Active chemicals like chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere, which are derivatives of man-made components, are deposited in the clouds high above the poles every winter in the south.
Reactive chlorine and bromine then trigger ozone-destroying reactions at dawn in late winter in Antarctica.
Researchers from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) detect and measure the growth and rupture of the ozone hole through instruments in the sky such as the Aura, Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellites. On 5 October, satellites observed a daily ozone hole of 26.4 million square kilometers, slightly larger than last year.
To collect Live sciencethe figure is the largest since 2015. But according to scientists, the measure still follows an overall downward trend.
“All the data says ozone is on the mend,” Newman said.
Ozone is actually created and can be naturally destroyed in the stratosphere. However, man-made pollution destroys them faster than it took to form.
The sectors that contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer are industries that produce chlorine and bromine such as refrigerators and air conditioners. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, one chlorine atom can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules before they are removed from the atmosphere.
On the other hand, NOAA reported earlier this year that ozone-depleting substances have decreased by 50 percent since 1980. The report also states that if this downward trend continues, the ozone layer could fully recover by 2070.
(lesimo)
