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The National
3 days ago
- Politics
- The National
How the global space race could blast another hole in the ozone layer
A growing global desire to venture into deep space could pose a new threat to life back on Earth – 40 years after the alarm was raised over damage to the ozone layer and its stark consequences for humankind. It was 40 years ago this month that a team of scientists from the British Antarctic Survey published a study that sent shock waves through not just the scientific community, but the world as a whole. They revealed that, from the late 1970s onwards, a hole had been forming each southern hemisphere spring in the ozone layer above the Antarctic. It was a human-made crisis, because the thinning had been caused by the release into the atmosphere of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and related substances used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants. Left unchecked, this destruction could have had increasingly serious consequences, because ozone – a gas whose molecules are made up of three oxygen atoms – filters out the most harmful solar radiation and allows life as we know it to exist. Slowly, the Antarctic hole is healing, thanks largely to the groundbreaking Montreal Protocol, an agreement that came into force in 1989 to restrict the use of CFCs and related gases containing chlorine and bromine. New challenges take flight But even as the crucial healing process continues, the international community is being urged to remain vigilant. In particular, researchers are concerned that rockets that take off for space exploration and to launch satellites are causing damage because the exhausts of these craft release soot directly into the stratosphere. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a US government agency, released a study in 2022 suggesting that 'a significant boost in space flight activity may damage the protective ozone layer'. Also, when satellites reach the end of their life, return to the Earth's atmosphere and burn up, they release nitrogen oxide, chlorine, aluminium and lithium, which can destroy ozone. The UK's University of Southampton said last year that up to 50,000 satellites could be launched into orbit by 2030, while each day over the coming decade dozens will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up. Rasmus Flytkjaer, head of space at the consultancy London Economics, says that it is unclear if concerns about the environmental impacts of launches and re-entries are having 'an observable impact' on the industry. The problem of space debris continues to grow, which may indicate that environmental impacts from the industry are tackled only when appropriate regulations are in place. Yet Mr Flytkjaer says that standardised global regulations have yet to be put in place, and the sector is 'looking to the UN to become that organisation' that brings them in. 'As the countries haven't agreed, the UN have to tackle this,' he says. 'There are differences between jurisdictions, meaning that satellites not approved in one jurisdiction may be approved in another.' If suitable regulations are in place, the impacts could be much reduced: Mr Flytkjaer said that a wooden satellite, LignoSat, launched last year, was used to demonstrate that satellites did not have to be made from metals that harmed the ozone layer. Another concern is the possibility of hypersonic air travel, which would involve aircraft flying at five times the speed of sound or more. Several companies are developing this technology. 'They will be flying high up, maybe at 30km altitude,' says Prof Guy Brasseur, of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany and the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in the US. 'I don't know how much the engines will emit because nobody knows what kinds of engine will be used, but there's the potential for emissions of large amounts of water vapour and nitrogen oxide depending on the technology used.' Further threats include climate change, which with its complex effects on the atmosphere, could cause damage in more than one way. 'Climate change with change the circulation of the stratosphere. It's predicted to make the ozone column in the tropics thinner. The tropics is a region that's not really had depletion in the past, but it's where lots of people live,' Prof Brasseur says. Also, Prof Brasseur says that even as the troposphere warms, global warming will lead to a cooling of the stratosphere, which is likely to result in clouds forming in the stratosphere above the poles more frequently. The interaction of clouds, CFCs and ozone could result in more ozone being destroyed and a thinning of the protective layer above the Antarctic. So, while the world can celebrate the progress made so far in helping to heal the hole in the ozone layer, the future of his critical protective chief remains uncertain. How ozone hole led to global concern 'I guess it was the first strong indication of humans on the planet Earth could have a global impact on the environment, in a supposedly pristine, remote region,' said Prof Martyn Chipperfield, who researches the ozone layer at the University of Leeds in the UK. 'The ozone layer is essential for life on Earth. Life would not have evolved without the ozone layer forming … because it filters out short-wavelength harmful ultraviolet radiation. There's strong, justified concern about us damaging the ozone layer.' The protective ozone layer lies in the stratosphere, which sits between about 11 and 50km above the Earth's surface, directly on top of the troposphere, which stretches up from ground level. The coldness of the stratosphere above the Antarctic accelerates the depletion of ozone by CFCs, and the Arctic too has experienced thinning, but less because temperatures inside the stratosphere there are not as low. Life-saving progress A 2020 report from the US Environmental Protection Agency said that, when considering people born in the US up to the year 2100, the protocol is expected to prevent about 63 million cataract cases, 443 million skin cancer cases and 2.3 million skin cancer deaths. Prof Chipperfield describes the protocol as having been 'a big success', but he cautions that the atmospheric abundance of ozone-depleting gases 'will only gradually decay' because CFCs and similar compounds are stable and remain in the atmosphere for many decades. 'The hole still appears very strongly most years, but the rate at which it grows in September is slowing down. So we do think the Antarctic ozone hole is responding to the decreases in chlorine and bromine,' he says. Prof Chipperfield – who completed his PhD under the supervision of the late Joe Farman, one of three authors of the original report about the ozone hole – said that it will not be until around 2070 that the ozone layer over the Antarctic returns to its 1980 state, which is typically used as the baseline for comparisons.
Metro
5 days ago
- Science
- Metro
Major warning issued for tourist hotspot after glacier collapse
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A huge mass of rock and ice has destroyed part of a popular village in the Swiss Alps that was evacuated earlier this month. A video on social media showed the rumbling mudslide near Blatten, in the southern Lotschental valley of Switzerland, with several cabins partially submerged. In recent days, the authorities had ordered the evacuation of about 300 people, as well as all livestock from the village, amid fears that a 1.5 million cubic metre glacier above the village was at risk of collapse. Local authorities were deploying across the area to assess the damage and whether there had been any casualties, Jonas Jeitziner, a spokesman for the Lotschental crisis centre, said. The retreat of the Alps' glaciers has been well documented. More than 500 glaciers have already vanished from Switzerland, and the government has warned that the remaining 1,500 will be gone by the end of the century if emissions are not curbed. It has led to so-called 'last chance' tourism, where visitors flock to see such natural wonders while they still can. Yes, there has always been natural variation in the size of these frozen rivers. But Switzerland's glaciers suffered their second-worst melt rate in 2023 after record 2022 losses, shrinking their overall volume by 10% in the last two years, monitoring body GLAMOS said last September. The 'catastrophic' figures meant they lost as much ice in two years as in the three decades before 1990. Late last year, scientists warned that a glacier known as 'the doomsday glacier', which has the potential to cause sea levels to rise across the planet, could be on the verge of collapse. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used underwater robots to take new measurements of the Thwaites Glacier, which is the same size as Great Britain or Florida. More Trending The data suggestsed that the glacier, along with much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, could be lost entirely by the 23rd century. Worryingly, if it collapses entirely, the experts say global sea levels would rise by two feet (65cm), plunging huge areas underwater. In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz, in eastern Switzerland, were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the settlement. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Who is hosting Eurovision 2025? Everything you need to know about Michelle Hunziker MORE: I've watched Eurovision for 45 years — here's my party survival guide MORE: Eurovision star wants to break 30 year 'curse' that's doomed other singers
Newsweek
21-05-2025
- Science
- Newsweek
Scientist Who Discovered Hole in Ozone Layer Reveals 'Fear For Coming Generations'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. One of the scientists who discovered the hole in the ozone layer 40 years ago is proud of his work, but he now has major concerns about a new existential crisis: the looming threat of climate change. Jonathan Shanklin, a meteorologist and an emeritus fellow for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), helped discover the hole in the ozone layer in 1985 along with Joe Farman and Brian G. Gardiner. In a statement released May 13, Dominic Hodgson, director of science at the BAS, dubbed it "one of the most important environmental discoveries of the 20th century". Stock image of smoke billowing out of an industrial chimney. Stock image of smoke billowing out of an industrial chimney. Photo by Алексей Филатов / Getty Images In an email to Newsweek, Shanklin said that 40 years after the discovery, he was most proud "that the observations were correct and did indicate that the ozone layer above Antarctica was in trouble". The scientists' discovery led to quick international action, and according to the World Economic Forum, the ozone layer is "on a path to recovery". That recovery is in large part due to the Montreal Protocol, an agreement signed by a record number of countries in 1987 banning the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Banning CFCs, however, was straightforward compared to the looming crisis of climate change. 'Blighted by the consequences' "Stopping the release of chemicals harmful to the ozone layer was relatively straightforward—manufacturers had (or could design) alternatives that they could supply and there was no requirement for a change in personal lifestyle," Shanklin told Newsweek. The problem with climate change, according to Shanklin, is "an economic model that does not stand up to scientific scrutiny". "I personally fear for coming generations whose lives are going to be blighted by the consequences of climate change," Shanklin added. "The evidence is very strong and politicians need to act upon it." Shanklin said that our current economic model makes two incorrect assumptions. The first is that resources are infinite, and the second is that using them has no consequences. "It is blindingly obvious that natural resources are not infinite, and is becoming increasingly obvious in the form of all the crises that affect us (ozone, climate, biodiversity, plastic pollution etc.) that using natural resources does have consequences and that the cost of these needs to be included in the model," Shanklin noted. 'Essentially a story of personal greed' Having once inspired international action with a scientific discovery, Shanklin said he believes that one important lesson was the importance of what a potential crisis is called. "An ozone hole was clearly a problem, whereas climate change or greenhouse warming can sound quite attractive to some," he said. He added, "Another lesson is that it is important to have political leaders who understand science," noting that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had trained as a chemist. Finally, he stressed the importance of seeing how each crisis is interconnected—that fixing each one in isolation is impossible. "The underlying linkage is essentially a story of personal greed and a lack of altruism," he said. "Collectively, we need to think of others and future generations."
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What happened to the hole in the ozone layer? What is the status of the hole?
It's been 40 years since groundbreaking research announced the discovery of a hole in the ozone layer, a revelation that launched a rapid and successful effort to ban chemicals in hairspray, deodorant cans and refrigerators that were imperiling the planet. The 1985 discovery by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey identified a dramatic thinning of the ozone layer over our southernmost continent, triggering immediate global concern about potential harm to human health and ecosystems worldwide. Located in the stratosphere, the ozone layer acts like sunscreen, blocking potentially harmful ultraviolet energy from reaching our planet's surface. Without it, humans and animals could experience increased rates of skin cancer, DNA damage, cataracts and other ailments. It also affects the physiological and developmental processes of plants. Scientists determined the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were widely used in refrigeration, aerosols, solvents, and fire extinguishers caused the problem. When chlorine and bromine atoms from CFCs rise and come into contact with ozone in the stratosphere, they destroy ozone molecules, the Environmental Protection Agency says in an online report. Ozone can be destroyed more quickly than it is naturally created, the EPA said. A large and deep ozone hole still forms every Antarctic spring, being deepest and largest toward the end of September, Shanklin told USA TODAY in a May 15 e-mail. "There is a very slow recovery, but we'll still have ozone holes for another 50 years or more." Indeed, though the Antarctic ozone hole shows signs of recovery, the healing process is very slow. CFCs have atmospheric lifetimes of more than 50 years, so even without further emissions, a full recovery might not occur until after 2070, the BAS said. "The current rate of recovery is a bit slower than might be expected, so there could be feedbacks with climate change taking place," Jon Shanklin, now an emeritus fellow at the British Antarctic Survey, told USA TODAY. The discovery of the ozone hole led directly to the Montreal Protocol just two years later – an agreement that froze the production and use of ozone-depleting substances at 1986 levels and set the groundwork for phasing them out entirely. Today, the protocol stands as one of the most successful international environmental treaties ever implemented. By preventing harmful UV radiation from reaching the Earth's surface, the agreement has saved thousands of lives, the BAS said. "The Montreal Protocol is a very successful treaty that all the world's governments have signed. It is working, with the amount of ozone depleting chemicals in the atmosphere declining as expected," Shanklin said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. USA TODAY asked Shanklin if there is a regret that we haven't made similar progress in reducing the human-caused greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. "Very much so," Shanklin answered. "The Montreal Protocol shows what can be done, but with most other environmental issues (climate, biodiversity loss, sewage pollution, soil degradation, etc.) there is mostly talk and small-scale action." "It is largely because the economic model is flawed and perverse – it assumes that resources are infinite and that there is no cost in using them," Shanklin said. "This perversely then creates all the crises that we could be avoiding." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 40 years later: What happened to the hole in the ozone layer?
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Was the hole in the ozone layer fixed? Status 40 years after discovery
It's been 40 years since groundbreaking research announced the discovery of a hole in the ozone layer, a revelation that launched a rapid and successful effort to ban chemicals in hairspray, deodorant cans and refrigerators that were imperiling the planet. The 1985 discovery by scientists at the British Antarctic Survey identified a dramatic thinning of the ozone layer over our southernmost continent, triggering immediate global concern about potential harm to human health and ecosystems worldwide. Located in the stratosphere, the ozone layer acts like sunscreen, blocking potentially harmful ultraviolet energy from reaching our planet's surface. Without it, humans and animals could experience increased rates of skin cancer, DNA damage, cataracts and other ailments. It also affects the physiological and developmental processes of plants. "The discovery of the ozone hole stands as one of the most important environmental discoveries of the 20th century and demonstrates how robust science, clear communication and international cooperation can address planetary-scale threats," said Dominic Hodgson, interim director of science at the British Antarctic Survey, in a statement released May 13. Jon Shanklin, now an emeritus fellow at the British Antarctic Survey, added that "publishing our findings in Nature 40 years ago, we couldn't have anticipated the global response that would follow." More: Study: Ozone hole over Antarctica beginning to heal Scientists determined the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were widely used in refrigeration, aerosols, solvents, and fire extinguishers caused the problem. When chlorine and bromine atoms from CFCs rise and come into contact with ozone in the stratosphere, they destroy ozone molecules, the Environmental Protection Agency says in an online report. Ozone can be destroyed more quickly than it is naturally created, the EPA said. A large and deep ozone hole still forms every Antarctic spring, being deepest and largest toward the end of September, Shanklin told USA TODAY in a May 15 e-mail. "There is a very slow recovery, but we'll still have ozone holes for another 50 years or more." Indeed, though the Antarctic ozone hole shows signs of recovery, the healing process is very slow. CFCs have atmospheric lifetimes of more than 50 years, so even without further emissions, a full recovery might not occur until after 2070, the BAS said. "The current rate of recovery is a bit slower than might be expected, so there could be feedbacks with climate change taking place," Shanklin told USA TODAY. More: Ozone hole shrinks to smallest size on record, and it's not related to global warming The discovery of the ozone hole led directly to the Montreal Protocol just two years later – an agreement that froze the production and use of ozone-depleting substances at 1986 levels and set the groundwork for phasing them out entirely. Today, the protocol stands as one of the most successful international environmental treaties ever implemented. By preventing harmful UV radiation from reaching the Earth's surface, the agreement has saved thousands of lives, the BAS said. "The Montreal Protocol is a very successful treaty that all the world's governments have signed. It is working, with the amount of ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere declining as expected," Shanklin said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. USA TODAY asked Shanklin if there is a regret that we haven't made similar progress in reducing the human-caused greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. "Very much so," Shanklin answered. "The Montreal Protocol shows what can be done, but with most other environmental issues (climate, biodiversity loss, sewage pollution, soil degradation, etc.), there is mostly talk and small-scale action." "It is largely because the economic model is flawed and perverse – it assumes that resources are infinite and that there is no cost in using them," Shanklin said. "This perversely then creates all the crises that we could be avoiding." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does the ozone layer still have a hole? What science tells us
