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How the hole in the ozone layer is affecting climate change

How the hole in the ozone layer is affecting climate change
A new study investigates the effects of the hole in the ozone layer on climate change
A new study investigates the effects of the hole in the ozone layer on climate change
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A new study investigates the effects of the hole in the ozone layer on climate change
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A new study investigates the effects of the hole in the ozone layer on climate change

The hole in the Earth's ozone layer may be on the mend, but that doesn't mean its environmental impacts are over. A new review study has examined in detail the effects that the extra UV radiation is having on the environment, such as shifting climate zones, changing ocean temperatures and making some species more vulnerable.

Much like climate change is today, the ozone hole was the big environmental crisis of the 1980s and 90s. This protective layer sits high in the Earth's atmosphere and reflects back a large portion of the Sun's damaging UV rays, playing a vital role in keeping the planet habitable. But in the mid-80s scientists discovered a hole in it over Antarctica.

The culprit was traced to chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were commonly used as refrigerants and in making aerosols. When in the atmosphere in large amounts, these chemicals were found to react to sunlight and start dissolving ozone. Realizing the danger, the world signed The Montreal Protocol in 1987, phasing out the use of CFCs in what would come to be considered a successful intervention.

More than three decades on and the hole seems to be on track to heal – assuming new emissions of CFCs are contained. But that repair process is still slow going, and the hole is still having some impact on the environment. And now, researchers from the United Nations' Environmental Effects Assessment Panel have conducted a review study to get a better understanding of just what those effects have been.

The biggest change seems to be on the Antarctic Oscillation. This wind belt wraps around the lower Southern Hemisphere and naturally shifts north and south over time. But the review study found that the ozone layer hole, which is directly above Antarctica, has moved the oscillation further south than it's been in about a thousand years.

The drift of the Antarctic Oscillation has dragged climate zones southward, shifting patterns of rainfall, sea-surface temperatures and ocean currents. This is changing the climate in the entire hemisphere, with effects felt across Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, South America, Africa and the Southern Ocean.

Different parts of the oceans are becoming warmer or cooler, which has effects on the ecosystems in those areas. Warmer waters are damaging kelp beds around the Australian island state of Tasmania, and coral reefs off the coast of Brazil. But cooler areas are actually seeing some benefits, with greater numbers of fish and krill feeding populations of penguins, seals and birds.

"What we're seeing is that ozone changes have shifted temperature and precipitation patterns in the Southern Hemisphere, and that's altering where the algae in the ocean are, which is altering where the fish are, and where the walruses and seals are, so we're seeing many changes in the food web," says Kevin Rose, co-author of the study.

Other creatures are suffering more thanks to the combined effects of the climate and ozone layer hole. Higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are making the oceans more acidic, which is giving shellfish thinner shells and leaving them more vulnerable to damage by the extra UV radiation coming through the hole.

There also seems to be a feedback loop between the changing climate and the ozone layer hole.

"Greenhouse gas emissions trap more heat in the lower atmosphere which leads to a cooling of the upper atmosphere," says Rose. "Because ozone is depleted at colder temperatures, the colder upper atmosphere is slowing the recovery of the ozone layer."

Reports like these are important to fill in some of the gaps that climate models might not take into account, and give us a clearer idea of the future we're heading for.

The research was published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

Source: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

7 comments
7 comments
Robert in Vancouver
Interesting new information, but it can't be true. Global warming experts told us the science is settled and if you want to debate that, you are an evil denier.
watersworm
@Robo 1000% OK with you : The (ckimatic) science is settled" (no need more $$$$ in research) period.
Douglas Bennett Rogers
The depletion theory is that CFCs carry chlorine into the stratosphere where polar stratospheric clouds act as a catalytic bed for ozone formation. The chlorine reacts in place of oxygen to form chlorine monoxide in preference to ozone. This reaction is powered by sunlight and the half life of the ozone is about six hours.
P51d007
"Much like climate change is today, the ozone hole was the big environmental crisis of the 1980s and 90s."
And if you look at the sunspot data, from the 80's, through around 2008, you'll find the solar cycles 22, 23 were VERY active, in fact had a huge geomagnetic storm in 1989 which took out a power production site in Canada. Those "storms", CME's cause disruptions of the "bubble" around out planet, and can screw around with the "ozone hole". Cycle 24, which is about to end has been EXTREMELY quiet, which would explain the hole repairing itself. Plus, the hole is usually larger in the first 6 months of the year, because of the tilt of the Earth. But, it's still man's fault...the "science" is "settled". LOL
Signguy
☆☆☆☆☆ for robo...
aksdad
The "ozone hole" brouhaha of the 80's was a precursor to the "global warming" hysteria of the last couple decades. Though CFCs were shown to deplete ozone via a chain of chemical reactions, it has never been demonstrated that human CFCs had any effect whatsoever on the ozone hole. In fact, there has been essentially no "recovery" of the ozone hole since the Montreal Protocol went into effect and the world is now (mostly) rid of ozone-depleting CFCs. See graphs here: https://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/. The same mob mentality is driving the vain effort to slow or reverse global warming, supposedly caused primarily by human CO2 emissions; a claim which, like human CFCs and the ozone hole, has very little evidence to support it.
ljaques
However, the 90+ new volcanoes under the ice in Antarctica couldn't have anything to do with this. Plus, the science is settled, as robo quoth.