According to researchers, Earth's ozone hole is starting to close, how come?
Through a scientific paper that has been published in the journal Nature, it is revealed that currently the Earth’s ozone layer is getting closed. Is this a bad omen for the life of living beings all over the world?
Of course not, on the contrary, the ozone that is starting to close indicates that the Earth’s conditions are starting to improve.
As is known, the ozone layer is a shield or shield in the Earth’s stratosphere, which is useful for absorbing most of the ultraviolet radiation emitted from sunlight. So this closed ozone layer is repairing the environmental damage caused by global warming. Without the ozone layer, all creatures on Earth cannot survive.
If we first see where the use of substances chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) by humans, the ozone layer has been damaged and threatens many living things. So that in 1987 an international agreement called ‘Montreal Protocol‘. The purpose of the agreement is to prohibit the use of CFC substances that are considered to damage the ozone layer.
The ozone layer begins to shrink and closes again
“We found signs of climate change in the southern hemisphere. Especially about the air circulation pattern. So it shows that the air circulation pattern has changed because the ozone hole has shrunk after the Montreal protocol was implemented.” said Antara Banerjee, CIRES Visiting Fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder who served on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the Independent.
He also explained that the flow of the jet stream (wind current or atmospheric circulation) in the Earth’s hemisphere shifted gradually to the South Pole in the last decades of the 20th century. This is due to the global depletion of the ozone layer.
According to a study conducted by Banerjee, he found that movement had stopped since 2000. The break from movement was around the same time that the ozone hole began to recover.
“Emissions from ozone-depleting substances CFCs are responsible for the ozone hole starting in 2000, thanks to those who have implemented the Montreal protocol,” he said.
Not only ozone affects the jet stream, CO2 also has its own effect. It seems that there is a tug of war between ozone starting to recover which affects the movement of the jet stream in one direction (north). And the movement of CO2 pulls in the other direction (to the south).
Most likely the ozone layer is fully recovered
The activity of the jet movement stream shifted because the two forces are currently considered to be still in balance. So if this continues, it is possible that the ozone layer will fully recover. This will certainly affect the global climate and repair the damage that humans have done to the Earth.
“A very important point to take from this research is that the ozone hole has shrunk thanks to the Montreal protocol.” said Banerjee.
So this shows that the international agreement has succeeded in repairing the damage that has been done to the Earth. This is an important lesson for all of us. With this treatment, it is hoped that we can apply greenhouse gas emissions in overcoming climate change.
