Heal the hole in the ozone layer, affecting the global climate

A new study by Columbia University scientists shows that the attachment of the ozone layer, intended to be carried out in the second half of the 21st century, could have a major impact on the phenomenon of change. climate in the southern hemisphere, leading to global climate change. The study is published in the June 13 issue of Science.

The earth's ozone layer is located in the lower stratosphere, just above the troposphere (starting from the earth's surface about 12 km) to receive harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. Until the end of the last century, the widespread use of household appliances and commercial aerosol containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) - an unstable compound introduced into the stratosphere - caused the ozone layer to be destroyed. Rapid destruction. Under the Montreal Treaty with the participation of 191 countries, CFC waste products were removed in 1996 worldwide. Observations over the past few years show that ozone depletion has been prevented on a large scale with complete resilience. According to new research, climate change in the southern hemisphere will also be able to recover. This is the obvious result of the Montreal Treaty - the international treaty considered the most successful to date, and proves that international agreements can bring positive changes to the entire climate system. bridge.

Seok-Woo Son - the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral scientist and researcher at Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) at Columbia - said Know: 'Our results show that the ozone layer of the stratosphere is very important for southern hemisphere climate change, we need to carefully consider the ozone layer in the integrated group. Next IPCC model '.

Antarctica, Antarctic Station.The chemical climate model used in the 2006 ozone layer project predicts that the ozone layer hole will be fully recovered in the second half of the 21st century;This can have a big impact on the wind currents on the earth's surface, in terms of other aspects of the earth's climate, this impact covers both surface temperature, storm location, range dry areas, sea ice and ocean cycle.(Photo: Lieutenant Colonel John Bortniak, NOAA Corps)

The group of 10 scientists has compared the results from the two climate modeling groups published by the World Meteorological Agency in 2006. The first model group is reported by the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Committee. on Climate Change (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC), the second group from the Scientific Review of ozone depletion. However, the chemical climate model used in the 2006 ozone layer project predicts that the ozone layer will be fully recovered in the second half of the 21st century; This can have a big impact on the wind currents on the earth's surface, in terms of other aspects of the earth's climate, this impact covers both surface temperature, storm location, range dry areas, sea ice and ocean cycle.

In the past few decades, the troposphere of the southern hemisphere has been blowing closer to the south pole of the earth due to the increase in greenhouse gases as well as the decline in ozone. This change has a broad impact on the earth's climate. The IPCC model predicts the impact will continue despite the slow pace. In contrast, the chemical climate model suggests that the recovery of the ozone layer, which has been ignored by the IPCC model, will cause the convection in the Southern hemisphere to slow down at high latitudes, shifting to the equator. potentially reversing the direction of climate change here.

Lorenzo M. Polvani - the principal investigator and professor of physics and applied mathematics at SEAS - said: 'We were surprised to find the healing of the intended ozone hole. In about 50 years, there is a big impact on the global climate. That's because stratospheric ozone has not been calculated to play a key role in the climate system '.

Polvani and Son made it clear that more research is needed to demonstrate their results and to fully understand the impact of full recovery of ozone layer on climate change on our planet. While previous studies have shown that recovery of the ozone layer can increase Antarctic temperatures , there is still much work to be done. For example, the chemical climate model used in the 2006 ozone layer assessment does not cover the full ocean cycle that affects the surface temperature of the earth. The link between the restored ozone layer, increased emissions of greenhouse gases, ocean currents and other components of the climate system still need to be studied to better understand replacement. Climate change in the future.

In addition to Polvani and Son, the study also involved Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, MD), National Environmental Research Institute (Tsukuba, Japan), National Atmospheric Research Center (Boulder, CO), China. Universe of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt), Institute of Climate and Atmospheric Science at ETH (Zurich, Switzerland), Natural Meteorological Observatory (Davos, Switzerland), University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada) and Meteorological Research Institute (Tsukuba, Japan).