An annual analysis of air samples collected at remote sites around the globe that is tracking a continued decline in the atmospheric concentration of ozone-depleting substances shows the threat to the ozone layer receding below a significant milestone in 2022, NOAA scientists have announced.
An annual analysis of air samples collected at remote sites around the globe that is tracking a continued decline in the atmospheric concentration of ozone-depleting substances shows the threat to the ozone layer receding below a significant milestone in 2022, NOAA scientists have announced.
In early 2022, the overall concentration of ozone-depleting substances in the mid-latitude stratosphere had fallen just over 50 percent back to levels observed in 1980, before ozone depletion was significant. This slow but steady progress over the past three decades was achieved by international compliance with controls on production and trade of ozone-depleting substances in the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
The pace of reduction in ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) over Antarctica, which experiences a large ozone hole in spring, has been slower, NOAA’s analysis showed.
“It’s great to see this progress,” said Stephen Montzka, senior scientist for NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory. “At the same time, it’s a bit humbling to realize that science is still a long way from being able to claim that the issue of ozone depletion is behind us.”
Read more at: NOAA
Locations where ozone-depleting chemicals are regularly made by NOAA/ESRL. Different symbols indicate different sampling frequencies (circles≅weekly; stars≅daily). A subset of these results is used to derive hemispheric and global surface means. (Photo Credit: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory)
