The ozone layer above Antarctica continues to heal, and it has actually stopped many worrying changes in the Southern Hemisphere’s atmosphere. It also has the potential to recover fully, a fresh study reveals. An analytical research paper announces a rare success in the reversal of environmental decline and shows that organized global action can make a difference.
This study also suggested that the Montreal Protocol—the 1987 agreement to stop producing substances—could be responsible for pausing or even reversing some troubling changes in air currents around Southern Hemisphere. This change in air circulation patterns was caused due to shrinkage in the ozone hole.
The ozone layer depletion consists of two similar events observed since the late 1970s: a steady lowering of about 4% in the total amount of ozone Earth’s atmosphere and a much larger springtime decrease in stratospheric ozone around Earth’s polar regions. It is also referred to as the ozone hole. Responsible ozone-depleting substances for the hole are CFCs from spray cans and refrigerants, which began to decline around the year 2000.