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World Ozone Day 2022: Is Earth's ozone layer safe now?

Scientists first noticed a hole in the ozone layer in the late 1970s, which they later determined to be the result of ozone-depleting gases. These gases are used in cooling technologies like air conditioning and refrigeration.

Mirror Now Digital

Updated Sep 15, 2022, 23:31 IST

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New Delhi: The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is observed on September 16 each year. The day was created by the United Nations in 1994 in an effort to raise awareness of the value of protecting the layer that shields all life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiations that are emitted by the Sun.

So is Earth's ozone layer safe now?

Even though the Montreal Protocol prevented a full-blown crisis, things are still not under control. Last year's study from Lancaster University researchers, which was published in Nature, described how dire things would have been in the absence of ozone protection.

By the end of this century, Earth would have scorched, quite literally, from a 0.5 to 1°C temperature increase. If the ozone layer depletion is not preserved, climate change will have the advantage it needs to end all life on Earth.

Plants would not be able to capture carbon dioxide if they were not protected from UV radiation, which will increase climate change. According to the study, the ozone layer would have vanished by 2040 without the Montreal Protocol.

It's anticipated that the ozone layer will reach pre-1980 levels by the middle of this century. The ozone layer is being destroyed by greenhouse gases, methyl bromide, methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and chemical families of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

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