Ozone Hole Has Stopped Growing, Should Be Restored By Mid Century According To UN Scientists (PHOTO)

September 16 marks the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, commemorated as the anniversary of that day in 1987 when the Montreal Protocol was signed, an international treaty created to limit and eventually ban CFCs and other substances that were discovered to have been depleting our ozone. And this year certainly brings cause for celebration.

In the "Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2010" report, UN scientists announced that the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere has ceased diminishing, attesting to the success of the Montreal Protocol. The scientists say the area of the ozone that has thinned out should largely be restored by mid century, AFP reports.

The ozone serves as an intermediary between the sun and Earth's surface, absorbing ultraviolet light, which can damage the DNA in plants and humans, leading to skin cancer.

The photo below is what the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite captured on September 12, 2010. The largest ozone hole ever observed was on September 24, 2006.

Learn more at NASA's Ozone Hole Watch website.

Comments

[patman77]

10:09 PM on 09/20/2010

and the gulf oil dump has disapeared forevermore. L I A R S !

[Sonofabeach]

12:34 AM on 09/20/2010

yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. we get to live!

[Tommygun264]

02:46 AM on 09/19/2010

I can remember corporate shills and right wingers of the day foretelling the end of human civilization as we know it due to our "heavy-handed government regulation" restricting the use of harmful CFC propellants and refrigerants. I can distinctly remember an obese radio "personality" by the name of Limpbaugh warning that we wouldn't be allowed to use air conditioners or refrigerators. Instead, the very scientists they demonized developed non-CFC propellants & refrigerants and engineers designed pump action spray mechanisms that work by manipulating ordinary air or inert, non-toxic gases.

[mozartian]

09:51 AM on 09/19/2010

Wow! Thanks for that. Would never have known.

If only getting back to them with their past words would make them admit their error and maybe tone down their present rhetoric. Well we can keep dreaming.

[ljmck]

05:05 AM on 09/20/2010

I've had the sense for a long time that regulation often provides opportunities for innovation.

Sometimes it looks as if business would just stagnate, selling the same old refrigerators, but then the government demands energy savings and away we go. Without that kind of demand, business would just be selling us refrigerators that "seem" new and improved, without any real innovation.

Business would kill itself off, but for government and customers making demands, because its instinct is to add on incrementally and sell camouflage and superficial change while charging more, rather than developing real innovation.

[h1ren]

08:15 PM on 09/18/2010

Isn't this speaking too soon?

[Spazoid-droid]

06:39 PM on 09/17/2010

well I dont know if the hole will go away by 2050 or not but if it stoped getting bigger it gives us time to look for better answers.

[Angel1999]

05:02 PM on 09/17/2010

I had thought that CFC production was over, but there was still some CFC production at least as of 2004 (about 5.5% of the highest yearly total in 1988). However, NASA also has some data on atmospheric abundance of the various CFCs (at least through 2004-5), indicating that CFC levels would be predicted to crest in the mid 1990s and then decrease slowly from that time based on the half lives of the various CFC species.

http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/

[timotron]

02:57 PM on 09/17/2010

Wow, after reading all these comments I'm really glad I didn't become a scientist. Could you imagine spending a decade of your life studying something, spend another decade working with it, spend another decade understanding it, only to have your findings questioned by a bunch of Jethros with little more than a GED.

[Saturdayboy]

02:58 PM on 09/17/2010

well said!

[olmossy]

03:56 PM on 09/18/2010

Worse, when Jethro gets elected to Congress he will move to cut your funding.

[Rope-A-Dope]

01:25 PM on 09/17/2010

this is good news to me (at least). reading the rest of the comments on here really leave me shaking my head. some people suck

[lightningbolt]

10:15 AM on 09/17/2010

I find all the science deniers on this comments section absolutely silly and ridiculous.  They are trying to discredit the work of UN scientists but have no data to back up their outrageous unscientific conclusions.

[SecondTime]

10:43 AM on 09/17/2010

Now you're talking! Please share your evidence than NASA scientists are under the control of the UN. If they were, it wouldn't surprise me, but the hypothesis is a new one for me.

[Publicola]

01:37 PM on 09/17/2010

That's not what he said, but since you SecondTime even believe and repeat science denier propaganda that would have one believe Moon violates the laws of physics I'm not surprised that you didn't understand this either.

[garder54]

10:44 AM on 09/17/2010

I agree. People perform a simple google search and immediately find themselves to be experts. Unless, the vast majority of HuffPost commentors are actually just world reknown scientists in nearly every field imaginable.

[SecondTime]

07:44 AM on 09/17/2010

NASA does not have much credibility when it comes to the atmosphere. They just go nuts over what others see as fluctuations. So, I am forced to take their press releases with a large grain of salt, and await the counsel and analysis of less troubled minds.

[lightningbolt]

10:12 AM on 09/17/2010

Unlike you, NASA uses real data to form their conclusions on scientific issues.

[Publicola]

01:40 PM on 09/17/2010

SecondTime: "NASA does not have much credibility when it comes to the atmosphere. "

This, from a guy who pushes science denier propaganda that the Moon violates the laws of physics.

Gotta love literal science-denier lunacy. Or not.

[AdamKidabra]

10:25 PM on 09/18/2010

Haha... "lunacy". Was that intentional? :)

[rougebaisers]

06:44 AM on 09/17/2010

The ozone will be restored just in time for our oceans to be DEAD.

[wkb2texans]

09:37 AM on 09/17/2010

and where do you find that little factoid?

[lightningbolt]

10:13 AM on 09/17/2010

Have you not heard of the BP oil spill?  Have you not heard about the Nigerian oil spill?  Were you not aware that Saddam Hussein dumped more oil than the BP oil spill into the Persian Gulf during the 1991 war?  The oceans are dying.  Get informed.

[rougebaisers]

11:08 AM on 09/17/2010

You live in texas and don't know about dead zones and how much the gulf is dying? Can't you smell those million fish that are DEAD in the water this week?

[naughtYmike]

05:01 AM on 09/17/2010

"Ozone Hole Has Stopped Growing, Should Be Restored By Mid Century According To UN Scientists"

Sure, and the oil evaporated.

[wkb2texans]

09:38 AM on 09/17/2010

and liberals think clearly ...

[lightningbolt]

10:14 AM on 09/17/2010

Those who do not trust scientists are delusional.

[LetsGoSteve]

05:33 PM on 09/17/2010

Where do I send my check to help science save us from ourselves?

[mlaiuppa]

12:57 AM on 09/17/2010

So, we took immediate (relatively) action and as a result it only took a few decades to stop the depletion and will only take another 40-60 years to restore what we destroyed.

Now, what do we intend to do about climate change in general? If we don't do something extreme and fast, I don't think restoring the ozone layer is going to make much difference.

[wkb2texans]

09:39 AM on 09/17/2010

world's in good shape ... and, as this article shows, does a very good job of "healing" itself ... time to get off the "world's going to end" panic train.

[8020vision]

11:54 AM on 09/17/2010

Actually, the layer didn't heal itself - it took international action and agreement to stop using CFC's. Hopefully we can use that as inspiration and a model for international cooperation on greenhouse gas emissions.

[mlaiuppa]

10:42 PM on 09/17/2010

The world didn't heal itself.

We had to drastically change what we were doing.

It will take the earth 75 - 100 years to recover from that minor hurt we inflicted for only a few decades.

We've been inflicting our current hurt for over a century, increasing it geometrically and we're not stopping.

There is no reason to believe we can continue what we're doing, let alone increase, and the earth will "heal itself". We have indications on several fronts that will not happen.

We are literally killing ourselves.

Once our species is extinct, then it may take the earth a few centuries to recover.

Hopefully the insects will be better caretakers.

[RedEagleCollective]

12:50 AM on 09/17/2010

Huh? This makes no sense - emissions have increased. This is ridiculous. Unless, of course, the ozone layer and climate change are not related to human activity. Ahhhh...maybe we're on to something.

[Steelheadangler]

01:02 AM on 09/17/2010

Maybe your not. The Ozone depletion was a direct result of emission of CFC's NOT CO2. The fact that such small percentages of a specific gas can affect the atmosphere bolsters to argument for anthropogenic climate change, not the other way around.

[RedEagleCollective]

01:12 AM on 09/17/2010

Really. really?! You actually believe CFCs have been eliminated - people just stopped emitting them - with a rapidly growing population around the world. Boy are you gullible. CFCs are present in a lot more than aerosol cans. CFCs are just as numerous as they were in the 80's, if not more so. The hole is in your argument, not just in the ozone. Stop trying to fix science to fit your fantasies.

[Marklar]

03:49 AM on 09/17/2010

You are an idiot. The Greenhouse Effect and the hole in the ozone layer over the south pole are two completely different things. The Greenhouse Effect (AKA Global Warming AKA Climate Change) is caused by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuel, the depletion of the ozone layer was caused by CFCs which are a chemical that was widely used as a propellant in spray bottles.

Try learning. It does wonders for combatting stupid thoughts.

[wkb2texans]

09:41 AM on 09/17/2010

Im curious .... why do you want to have the corner on stupid comments?

[SaraSH]

12:49 AM on 09/17/2010

Firstly, THX to all kinds of measures and regulations put by Environmentalists.

Secondly, I wouldn't be celebrating just yet, we have introduced our atmosphere to some NASTY NASTY POTENT man made chemicals, such as SF6 and family that owuld have very long residential time and move slowly between the layers of troposphere/stratosphere ( where Ozone layer is). And that is worrisome. These reports are written here by clueless average Joes FOR average Joes. Claiming ozone layer depletion has stopped is pure fantasy.

[tercio]

01:06 AM on 09/17/2010

That's what I tought, but some link would be nice.

[Marklar]

03:51 AM on 09/17/2010

It is First and Second...they are not adverbs.

[wkb2texans]

09:44 AM on 09/17/2010

ugh ...

[invirginia]

02:19 PM on 09/17/2010

Marklar may be a marklar, but his marklar is marklar.