Ozone Depletion

[Sana Aly]

Ozone depletion, gradual thinning of Earth’s ozone layer in the upper atmosphere caused by the release of chemical compounds containing gaseous chlorine or bromine from industry and other human activities. The thinning is most pronounced in the Polar Regions, especially over Antarctica. Ozone depletion is a major environmental problem because it increases the amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches Earth’s surface, which increases the rate of skin cancer, eye cataracts, and genetic and immune system damage. The Montreal Protocol, ratified in 1987, was the first of several comprehensive international agreements enacted to halt the production and use of ozone-depleting chemicals. As a result of continued international cooperation on this issue, the ozone layer is expected to recover over time.
In 1969 Dutch chemist Paul Crutzen published a paper that described the major nitrogen oxide catalytic cycle affecting ozone levels. Crutzen demonstrated that nitrogen oxides can react with free oxygen atoms, thus slowing the creation of ozone (O3), and can also decompose ozone into nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and oxygen gas (O2). Some scientists and environmentalists in the 1970s used Crutzen’s research to assist their argument against the creation of a fleet of American supersonic transports (SSTs). They feared that the potential emission of nitrogen oxides and water vapours from these aircraft would damage the ozone layer. (SSTs were designed to fly at altitudes coincident with the ozone layer, some 15 to 35 km [9 to 22 miles] above Earth’s surface.) In reality, the American SST program was canceled, and only a small number of French-British Concords and Soviet Tu-144s went into service, so that the effects of SSTs on the ozone layer were found to be negligible for the number of aircraft in operation.

In 1974, however, American chemists Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland of the University of California at Irvine recognized that human-produced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)—molecules containing only carbon, fluorine, and chlorine atoms—could be a major source of chlorine in the stratosphere. They also noted that chlorine could destroy extensive amounts of ozone after it was liberated from CFCs by UV radiation. Free chlorine atoms and chlorine-containing gases, such as chlorine monoxide (CO), could then break ozone molecules apart by stripping away one of the three oxygen atoms. Later research revealed that bromine and certain bromine-containing compounds, such as bromine monoxide (BrO), were even more effective at destroying ozone than were chlorine and its reactive compounds. Subsequent laboratory measurements, atmospheric measurements, and atmospheric-modeling studies soon substantiated the importance of their findings. Crutzen, Molina, and Rowland received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1995 for their efforts.

Human activities have had a significant effect on the global concentration and distribution of stratospheric ozone since before the 1980s. In addition, scientists have noted that large annual decreases in average ozone concentrations began to occur by at least 1980. Measurements from satellites, aircraft, ground-based sensors, and other instruments indicate that total integrated column levels of ozone (that is, the number of ozone molecules occurring per square meter in sampled columns of air) decreased globally by roughly 5 percent between 1970 and the mid-1990s, with little change afterward. The largest decreases in ozone took place in the high latitudes (toward the poles), and the smallest decreases occurred in the lower latitudes (the tropics). In addition, atmospheric measurements show that the depletion of the ozone layer increased the amount of UV radiation reaching Earth’s surface.
This global decrease in stratospheric ozone is well correlated with rising levels of chlorine and bromine in the stratosphere from the manufacture and release of CFCs and other halo-carbons. Halo-carbons are produced by industry for a variety of uses, such as refrigerants (in refrigerators, air conditioners, and large chillers), propellants for aerosol cans, blowing agents for making plastic foams, firefighting agents, and solvents for dry cleaning. Atmospheric measurements have clearly corroborated theoretical studies showing that chlorine and bromine released from halo-carbons in the stratosphere react with and destroy ozone.

Ozone depletion is explained well in this article.