No cause for alarm as record-size ozone tear expands
The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has assured that there is no need to be concerned about a record-size seasonal hole this month in Earth’s ozone layer.
On Thursday, the UN’s weather and climate agency said this year, a colder-than-usual stratosphere widened the hole to a peak of 28.2 million square kilometers, an area bigger than Canada and Russia put together, since the beginning of this month.
The ozone hole above the Earth is situated dozens of kilometers over the frozen southern continent of Antarctica, and it fluctuates in size.
According to the WMO, the hole has remained at daily record levels every day since October 2, citing data from the US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Although it was not as big as it was in the year 2000 and 2006, the current size of the hole in the atmosphere is the third largest size recorded.
In a statement, Geir Braathen, the WMO’s Atmospheric and Environment Research Division senior scientist said that, “This shows us that the ozone hole problem is still with us and we need to remain vigilant. But there is no reason for undue alarm.”
“Overall, however, this does not reverse the projected long-term recovery in the coming decades,” the statement added.
Last year, the WMO announced that it detected the first sign of ozone recovery, largely due to a 1987 ban on gases that cause ozone depletion, and at that time predicted it could be a decade before the hole begins shrinking.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone depleting chemicals, once widely used in refrigerators and spray cans, were banned under the Montreal Protocol in 1987.
The UN Environment Program maintains that the treaty will prevent 2 million cases of skin cancer annually by the year 2030.
However, the WMO says, “we may continue to see large Antarctic ozone holes until about 2025 because of weather conditions in the stratosphere and because ozone depleting chemicals linger in the atmosphere for several decades after they have been phased out.”
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