Ozone layer

Earth's ozone layer, an early symbol of global environmental degradation, is Over the past 30 years, humans have successfully phased out many of the chemicals that harm the Atmospheric ozone absorbs ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, particularly harmful UVB-type rays. Exposure to ( Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive gas whose molecules are comprised of three oxygen atoms. Its concentration in the atmosphere naturally fluctuates depending on seasons and latitudes, but it was generally stable when Groundbreaking research in the 1970s and 1980s revealed signs of trouble. Ozone threats and 'the hole' In 1974, Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland, two chemists at the University of California, Irvine, published an article in the journal This groundbreaking research—for which they were awarded the One atom of chlorine can destroy more than 100,000 ozone molecules, Molina and Rowland’s study was validated in 1985, when a team of English scientists found At the North Pole, a degraded ozone layer is responsible for the Arctic's rapid rate of warming, according to a 2020 study published in Nature Climate Change. CFCs are a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the most abundant planet-warming gas. The ozone layer’s status today In a This progress is thanks to the Nearly all the ozone-destroying chemicals banned by the Montreal Protocol have been phased out, but some harmful gases are still used. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), transitional substitutes that are less damag...