ozone layer

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Earth Has Breached Its 'Safe Operating Space for Humanity'

Planet's climate, biodiversity, and other key measurments 'are all out of whack'

(Newser) - Earth is exceeding its "safe operating space for humanity" in six of nine key measurements of its health, and two of the remaining three are headed in the wrong direction, a new study said. Earth's climate, biodiversity, land, fresh water, nutrient pollution, and "novel" chemicals (human-made compounds...

UN: Slowly but Surely, Ozone Layer Is Healing

It will be back to normal over the Arctic by 2045, quadrennial report says

(Newser) - Earth’s protective ozone layer is slowly but noticeably healing at a pace that would fully mend the hole over Antarctica in about 43 years, a new United Nations report says. A once-every-four-years scientific assessment found recovery in progress, more than 35 years after every nation in the world agreed...

Nobel Laureate Who Proved Danger of CFCs Dies at 77

Mario Molina helped prove chlorofluorocarbons posed significant threat to environment

(Newser) - A Nobel laureate who helped prove how dangerous chlorofluorocarbons are to the ozone layer and who served as a scientific adviser to President Obama has died. Dr. Mario Molina, a US citizen born in Mexico, passed away Wednesday at the age of 77 at his Mexico City home, the Washington ...

Cheap Chinese Insulation May Answer Ozone Mystery

Banned chemical still in wide use, says new report

(Newser) - Earlier this year, scientists could not figure out why an illegal, ozone-killing chemical had suddenly resurfaced in a big way. Now, a report released Monday by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency has identified the culprit: cheap insulation made in China. The EIA found that lots of Chinese manufacturers are adding...

'Environment Crime' May Have Just Been Traced to One Nation

Recent uptick in CFC-11 emissions could mess up ozone layer recovery; they may originate in China

(Newser) - Across the world, someone has been illegally producing an ozone-destroying gas banned more than 30 years ago. Now, investigators and the New York Times may have pinpointed the culprit behind the CFC-11 chlorofluorocarbon: factories making foam insulation in remote parts of China. Putting CFC-11 in the insulation, which is used...

Scientists 'Astounded' by Mysterious Rise in Banned Chemical

Source of CFC-11 is somewhere in East Asia

(Newser) - More than 30 years ago, world governments dealt with an alarming hole in the ozone layer with the Montreal Protocol, which banned damaging chemicals including the chlorofluorocarbon CFC-11. But it looks like somebody failed to get the memo. Scientists say they've detected a mysterious rise in emissions of the...

The Ozone Hole Is Nearing Record Size

It's now larger than the entirety of North America

(Newser) - Scientists who assumed the infamous ozone hole over Antarctica was steadily shrinking received an unpleasant surprise last month: The hole is approaching a size unseen in nine years, Popular Science reports. According to Live Science , in October researchers at the German Aerospace Center recorded the size of the hole in...

UN: Ozone Is Bouncing Back
 UN: Ozone Is 
 Bouncing Back 
Sep 11, 2014 8:14 AM CDT

UN: Ozone Is Bouncing Back

Layer is showing first signs of recovery

(Newser) - An environment story without warnings of impending doom : The ozone layer that blocks cancer-causing rays from the sun is finally starting to recover thanks to global action, according to the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program. While it will probably take until the middle of this century...

4 Mystery Gases Eat Up Ozone Layer

Scientists suspect manufacturers in the northern hemisphere

(Newser) - Scientists have spotted four mysterious ozone-depleting gases in Earth's atmosphere, two of which are still accumulating and causing researchers some concern, AFP reports. Three of them are chlorofluorocarbons—which were mostly banned by the 1987 Montreal Protocol—and one is another ozone-destroying gas called a hydrochlorofluorocarbon. The scientific team...

Ozone Hole Smallest It's Been in a Decade

Chlorofluorocarbon ban appears to be improving Earth's ozone

(Newser) - One of the most infamous symbols of man's assault on the planet is actually diminishing: The ozone hole over Antarctica was smaller in 2012 than it has been in 10 years, reports LiveScience . Scientists credit the improvement to the worldwide ban on chlorofluorocarbons, which cause the hole to appear...

Latest Task for Drones: Study Earth's Ozone Layer

Global Hawk will survey the tropopause

(Newser) - Today's science vocab lesson: tropopause. It's the atmospheric boundary between the troposphere, where ozone exists as a harmful greenhouse gas, and the higher-up stratosphere, where the same gas plays an important role in protecting the Earth from the sun's UV rays. And that boundary region is about...

Skin Cancer Rampant Among Australia's Trout
Skin Cancer Rampant
Among Australia's Trout
STUDY SAYS
Aug 2, 2012 9:22 AM CDT

Skin Cancer Rampant Among Australia's Trout

Great Barrier Reef sits under large ozone hole

(Newser) - Look out, Snooki, sun tans are dangerous—even for fish. Scientists in Australia have discovered that 15% of coral trout in the Great Barrier Reef have gotten skin cancer from ultraviolet radiation. The Land Down Under, the LA Times notes, lies under the Earth's biggest hole in the ozone...

New Threat to Ozone Layer: Summer Storms
 New Threat to 
 Ozone Layer: 
 Summer Storms 
study says
Jul 26, 2012 4:08 PM CDT

New Threat to Ozone Layer: Summer Storms

Study points to US skin cancer risk

(Newser) - New research links two major environmental concerns: ozone depletion and climate change. Soaring water vapor from summer storms can damage the ozone layer right over the US, researchers find, and global warming can increase the frequency of such storms. Once the vapor reaches the stratosphere, it can interact with chemicals...

Venus Has Ozone Layer, Too
 Venus Has Ozone Layer, Too 
Oct 7, 2011 4:29 PM CDT

Venus Has Ozone Layer, Too

It joins Earth and Mars

(Newser) - Venus has joined Earth and Mars in the ozone layer club. A spacecraft from the European Space Agency detected a thin layer about 60 miles above the planet, reports the BBC . Ozone protects Earth from the sun's ultraviolet rays, and astronomers say the discovery could help fine-tune their hunt...

Cold Weather Depleted Arctic Ozone Layer: Scientists

 80% Loss of  
 Arctic Ozone 
 Caused by... 
'nature' report
Oct 2, 2011 4:59 PM CDT

80% Loss of Arctic Ozone Caused by...

... months of stratospheric cold weather

(Newser) - Amid our heated political debate on climate change, it's cold air that apparently depleted the Arctic's ozone layer, the BBC reports. An article in the journal Nature says an 80% reduction of Arctic ozone, noted earlier this year , was caused by cold air hanging around the stratosphere for...

Al Gore Disappointed in Obama

He criticizes decision to stop push for tougher smog rules

(Newser) - Et tu, Al? Former VP Gore joined the chorus critical of President Obama today in a short blog post headlined "Confronting Disappointment." Gore focused on the president's environmental moves, specifically the surprise decision not to impose tougher smog rules . But he also noted that the decision came...

Burning Coal Slowed Climate Change: Study

Sulfur pollution masked effect of CO2 emissions

(Newser) - The vast amounts of coal China burned during the 2000s may have actually slowed down climate change, according to a new study. Researchers believe the sulfur pollution caused by burning coal deflected the sun's rays, causing a temporary plateau in warming, the AP reports. But while sulfur drops out...

Arctic Ozone Took 40% Hit This Winter

Up from previous record of 30%

(Newser) - The ozone layer above the Arctic withered by 40% this winter, according to the UN's weather agency, a stark increase from the previous seasonal record of 30%. The loss was driven largely by frigid conditions in the stratosphere—though surface temperatures were actually warmer than normal—and lingering chemicals banned...

Ozone Hole Shrinks Again
 Ozone Hole Shrinks Again 
Dec 3, 2010 4:22 PM CST

Ozone Hole Shrinks Again

Efforts to phase out CFCs may actually be working

(Newser) - Here's a rare bit of good environmental news: The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, cause célèbre of the '90s, is smaller than it's been for the past 5 years, MSNBC reports. The latest data fit with a pattern of reduction over the last few years that...

Whales Face 'Serious' Sunburn Threat
 Whales Face 'Serious' 
 Sunburn Threat 
study says
Nov 10, 2010 11:31 AM CST

Whales Face 'Serious' Sunburn Threat

Depleted ozone may be risk for already-endangered animals

(Newser) - Whales off the coast of Mexico seem to be getting bad sunburns, and scientists say ozone damage may be why. To survive, whales have to spend long periods on the ocean’s surface, and without clothes, fur, or feathers, they’re basically “sunbathing naked,” the AP notes. The...

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