Ozone Layer

In news sure to bring a smile to the face of all those who care for the environment, recent research indicates that the rate of deterioration of the Earth's ozone layer is slowing.

What does this mean to you and me? Quite a lot, for Australia has one of the higest incidences of skin cancer in the world, and the ozone layer is what helps filter out potentially harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which is often the cause of such cancer.

So, in essence, the better the health of the ozone layer, the better the health of our planet and all who reside here.

The ozone layer cannot be seen by the naked eye, but covers the Earth completely and helps block out dangerous radiation from the sun.

In the 1970s, scientists and researchers discovered that the ozone layer was being destroyed, and by the 1980s, it was apparent that the ozone layer was rapidly reduced by CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons.

Other toxins that kill off the ozone layer include exhaust from cars, buses and anything with a combustion engine, like a truck or a whipper-snipper. Industrial emissions also harm the ozone layer, as nitrogen oxide gases (NOx) and other by-products of fossil fuels add to the deterioration.

One of the turning points in our environmental history was when evidence showed that a huge hole in the ozone layer had appeared over Antarctica, one the world's most pristine and naturally beautiful wildernesses.

In 1989, a worldwide treaty was enacted, called the 'Montreal Protocol', which banned the use of destructive chemicals and CFCs, which are the main cause of ozone decay.

Unfortunately, such compounds take decades to dissipate or die off, but scientists in America have discovered that the ozone layers rate of destruction is decreasing.

Scientists from the University of Alabama have used recent satellite measurements to discover that in the higher levels of the stratosphere, the ozone layer's destruction is slowing.

A recent report in the New York Times quoted Mario Molina, who shared a Nobel prize in 1995 for his work on discovering the risk of CFCs in the mid-1970s, who said the new research find "is a very good example of human society creating a global environmental problem but then addressing it effectively".

The new information was attained thanks to two satellites orbiting the Earth, and this news is the first sign that the phasing out of CFCs and other chemicals is having a positive effect on the ozone layer, though experts predict that the ozone layer won't start repairing itself for another forty or fifty years.

Still, this is good news for the Earth, for nature, and it shows that we can make a difference if we all try to do our part.

Links:
Australian Academy of Science: Earth's Sunscreen
Science of Ozone depletion
Stratospheric Ozone (Canadian)
Formation of the Ozone Layer