Is the Ozone Hole Increasing or Recovering?
posted in Ozone Updates |
For those of us who have been wondering, how the ozone hole is doing, NOAA has now formed an index that might be of use in measuring the ozone layer. This is also called as the Ozone Depleting Gas Index and is used in measuring the overall health of the planet’s ozone layer.
This index tracks the recovery of the ozone layer by monitoring the atmospheric levels of the chemicals chlorine and bromine which are the main players in destroying the ozone layer. The ODGI ranges from zero to 100, with zero denoting the recovery of the ozone layer and 100 being the maximum level of ozone-depleting gases as measured in 1994.
There are 2 different ozone holes that can be tracked in the stratosphere. First of them is in the Antarctic ozone hole and the second is the state of ozone layer at mid-latitudes. There is a need for scientists to track each of them separately because of the physics of the stratosphere being very different at both these locations.
The discovery of the ozone hole, like that of global warming, is proof that human activity is changing the planet, and changing it for the worse. There was good news when there was a proposal by the international community to phase out the production of chemicals that can deplete the ozone layer.
But the amount of damage is huge but the recovery is a slow process. The good news is that the hole can be filled if the emission of the chemicals into the atmosphere can be slowed down. Scientists are estimating that the Antarctic ozone hole could recover anytime between 2075 and 2080 but the mid-latitude ozone layer can recover by about 2045 or 2050.