posts_gdocs: 1veRlw3GvP0J6De85R6_X4cPCLfQhXJp1k-zKkzPwIfo
Data license: CC-BY
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| id | slug | type | content | published | createdAt | publishedAt | updatedAt | publicationContext | revisionId | breadcrumbs | markdown | title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1veRlw3GvP0J6De85R6_X4cPCLfQhXJp1k-zKkzPwIfo | ozone-layer | topic-page | {
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"text": "The ozone layer plays a vital role in making the planet habitable for us and other species. High in the atmosphere \u2013 between 10 to 50 kilometers above the earth's surface \u2013 the ozone layer absorbs most of the sun\u2019s ultraviolet radiation.",
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"text": "But, during the 1970s, \u201880s, and \u201890s, humans were emitting large quantities of substances that depleted the ozone layer. This led to the creation of ozone holes at the earth\u2019s poles, exposing life to higher levels of ultraviolet radiation and increasing the risks of skin cancer in humans.",
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"text": "During the 1980s, the world came together to form an international agreement to reduce \u2013 and eventually eliminate \u2013 emissions of these depleting substances. The political agreements were very effective. Since then, global emissions have fallen by more than 99%.",
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"text": "This page includes all of our data, visualizations, and writing on the ozone layer, its depletion, and its path to recovery.",
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"text": "In 1987, the world signed the Montreal Protocol: the first global agreement to reduce the use of substances that deplete the ozone layer, known as \u2018ozone-depleting substances.\u2019",
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"text": "These are substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HFCs); and halon gases used in refrigerators, deodorants, and other industrial processes.",
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"text": "Since this agreement entered into force in 1989, global emissions of ozone-depleting substances have fallen by more than 99% as manufacturers have substituted them for less harmful alternatives.",
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"text": "was first agreed upon in 1987 to reduce \u2013 and eventually eliminate \u2013 the use of man-made ozone-depleting substances to protect the ozone layer.",
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"text": "The timeline below the interactive map shows when countries signed the protocol to join this international agreement.",
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"text": "The Montreal Protocol was not an instant success in reducing emissions. It has undergone various amendments to increase ambition and reduction targets.",
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"text": "But these adjustments have come close to eliminating ozone-depleting substances, making it one of the most successful international agreements of any kind.",
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"text": "International agreements been very successful in reducing emissions of ozone-depleting substances. But the initial targets of the Montreal Protocol from 1987 would have been insufficient to tackle the problem.",
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"text": "As we see in the visualization, the Montreal Protocol would have slowed emissions of depleting substances compared to a world with no protocol, but it wouldn\u2019t have ",
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"text": "These projections based on the various revisions are shown in the chart. You can see that the 1992 amendment in Copenhagen was the first not only to slow the increase of emissions but to reduce them.",
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"text": "This graphic and data is sourced from the 2018 update report from the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion.",
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"title": "The amount of ozone in the stratosphere was disappearing rapidly but has stabilized since the late 1990s",
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"text": "As a result of human emissions of ozone-depleting substances, concentrations of ozone in the stratosphere \u2013 between 10 to 50 kilometers above the earth's surface \u2013 fell rapidly throughout the 1970s, \u201880s, and early \u201890s.",
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"text": "Ozone concentrations are measured in \u2018Dobson units\u2019. If you were to take all the ozone in a column of air stretching from the earth's surface to space, and bring all that ozone to a temperature of 0\u00b0C and pressure of one atmosphere, the column would be about 0.3 centimeters thick. Thus, the total ozone would be 0.3 atm-cm. To make the units easier to work with, the \u201cDobson Unit\u201d is defined to be 0.001 atm-cm. So, our 0.3 atm-cm would be 300 DU.",
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"text": "Ross J. Salawitch (Lead Author), David W. Fahey, Michaela I. Hegglin, Laura A. McBride, Walter R. Tribett, Sarah J. Doherty, Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer: 2018 Update, Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018, 84 pp., World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2019.",
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"excerpt": "Humans were emitting large amounts of gases that depleted the ozone layer. But in the 1980s the world came together to tackle the problem. Emissions have fallen by more than 99%.",
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1 | 2024-06-12 14:54:27 | 2023-04-05 14:55:40 | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 | unlisted | ALBJ4LspmnX_gL0D9vo41Y3_jRYNHmPTM2pGHckLuYVWvuOp_j1oiX2zJ3GjzUDmkixjwL3QEETpqjmxEkBxqA | Ozone Layer |