The ozone layer has started to recover?

Scientists discovered ozone holes in Antarctica that are in the process of self-sufficiency, at least a decade earlier than they had previously expected.

In 1989, an international agreement was called the Montreal Protocol , for the purpose of reducing chemicals that were corrosive to the ozone layer protecting the Earth. Most researchers have suggested that as early as 2023 people will receive signs that the recovery of the ozone layer is beginning, but Australian researchers now claim that they have The ozone layer started itself in the late 1990s.

' The problem is how to account for the annual fluctuations that make it difficult for people to recognize a gradual, long-term progression of the ozone layer, ' says Macquarie University climate scientist Murry Salby. in Sidney. His research group published their results from May 6 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Ozone gap in September 2006

People began to recognize ozone holes since 1985, and quickly established its cause as chlorofluorocarbons, emitted mainly from the Northern Hemisphere but concentrated on Antarctica due to the flow ozone. Chlorine atoms from these CFC chemicals react with ozone molecules, eroding the Earth's protective layer from cancer-causing ultraviolet rays and crop damage.

Scientists have predicted that the present time is when the ozone hole stopped spreading and began to recur. But they did not think that this phenomenon could be detected so soon, because the ozone layer fluctuated very strongly each year, due to complex atmospheric fluctuations, sometimes fluctuations with the same size as gap.

To better understand these annual fluctuations, Salby's team explores the ' dynamic ' effects , such as waves traveling through the planet's atmosphere like waves. Researchers found that winter dynamics accurately reflect the level of ozone being lost in the spring. Basically, these processes determine the amount of chlorine released from CFC chemicals during the winter, and this helps determine the amount of ozone that will be lost later.

Once you know the amount of fluctuation annually, scientists will reduce this volume, to filter out the natural trend of ozone depletion. After a decline in data since human attention has been analyzed since 1979, the ozone layer began to stabilize and increase since 1996, Salby said.

However, using other analytical techniques, other scientists announced that they had only seen the ozone layer's rate of decline slowed, not yet seen a recovery.

Not all experts are convinced by Salby's results. The link between the annual movement and the ozone layer now seems to be true, but may change in subsequent studies, comments from Darryn Waugh, a meteorologist from Johns Hopkins University. ' I expect the Antarctic ozone layer to recover slowly,' he said, 'but still think we need to take a few more years to get the data needed to show this .'

Meteorologist Paul Young of the Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, USA, also agreed with this view. ' My feedback is a bit cautious ,' he said. ' Their statement is a bit bold .'

It will take several more decades for scientists to continue to verify whether or not the ozone layer has started to recover. It is predicted that it will not automatically turn off before 2070.

Meanwhile, the ozone layer in the Arctic is having problems; last spring, it became thinner than the previous observations of scientists.