The recovering ozone layer diverts global winds

The ozone layer above the Antarctic is continuing to recover and it has led to changes in the atmospheric circulation - airflow on the Earth's surface that causes wind.

Using data from satellite observations and climate simulations, female doctor Antara Banerjee, University of Colorado Boulder, USA and colleagues modeled wind-related wind patterns related to ozone layer recovery. . The recovery of the ozone layer is largely due to the Montreal Protocol adopted by countries in 1987, which banned the production of ozone depleting substances.

The ozone layer in Antarctica is changing, stimulating air flow.

Before 2000, a belt of airflow called mid-latitude winds in the southern hemisphere gradually moved toward Antarctica . Another tropical cyclone of the atmospheric circulation system called the Hadley cell, causing trade winds, tropical rain belts, hurricanes and subtropical deserts, has become wider.

Dr. Banerjee and her team discovered that both trends stopped and began to reverse slightly in 2000. This change cannot be explained by random fluctuations of the climate, and Banerjee. arguing that they are the result of direct impact due to the ozone layer recovery.

Changes in the path of eddy winds can affect the weather through changes in temperature and precipitation in the atmosphere, which can lead to changes in ocean temperatures and salt concentrations.

Professor Martyn Chipperfield, of the University of Leeds in England, who was not involved in the study, said that in terms of restoring the ozone layer, we have shifted our perspective. We have detected signs that the ozone layer is recovering and this study represents the next step, demonstrating the impact of that recovery on the climate.

According to Professor Chipperfield, it is important to know what aspects of climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions, which are continuing to rise, compared to ozone depletion, are currently stopping and reversing.

Despite the ban on ozone-depleting substances, these chemicals exist very long in the atmosphere, so ozone recovery is expected to take decades.

The ozone layer will also recover at different rates in different parts of the atmosphere, Dr. Banerjee said. For example, the ozone layer is expected to recover to the 1980s in 2030 for the mid-latitudes in the northern hemisphere and in the 2050s for the south-middle latitudes, while the ozone layer in Antarctica has could recover later then, in the 2060s.

According to Professor Chipperfield, climate change will also affect the ozone layer, which makes the ozone layer in the tropics thinner. Therefore, we still have to deal with climate change.

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