The Ozone Layer.

Concern about decreasing amounts of ozone in the earth's upper atmosphere continued during the year.
Ozone in the stratosphere screens out more than 99 percent of the sun's potentially harmful ultraviolet
radiation. The increase in ultraviolet radiation produced by a 1 percent reduction in stratospheric ozone
could result in 10,000 more cases of skin cancer and 100 more deaths in the United States each year,
researchers say. Increases in ultraviolet radiation have also been associated with cataracts and herpes
and would be harmful to plants and animals. Concerns were first raised in 1974, when it was reported
that emissions of chlorofluorocarbon compounds used as refrigerants, in aerosol propellants, and in
foam packaging and insulation could seriously deplete the protective stratospheric ozone layer.
Chlorofluorocarbon propellants were banned in the United States in 1978 but remained widely used in
other parts of the world. The need to address the ozone problem assumed more urgency in 1985, when
scientists found an ozone "hole" in the Antarctic stratosphere where ozone levels were 40 percent
below 1979 values.

Ozone Layer, a region of the atmosphere from 19 to 48 km (12 to 30 mi) above the earth's surface.
Ozone concentrations of up to 10 parts per million occur in the ozone layer. The ozone forms there by
the action of sunlight on oxygen. This action has been taking place for many millions of years, but
naturally occurring nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere apparently have kept the ozone
concentration at a fairly stable level. Concentrations this great at ground level are dangerous to breathe
and can damage the lungs. However, because the ozone layer of the atmosphere protects life on earth
from the full force of the sun's cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation, it is critically important. Thus,
scientists were concerned when they discovered in the 1970s that chemicals called
chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs (see Fluorine)—long used as refrigerants and as aerosol spray
propellants—posed a possible threat to the ozone layer. Released into the atmosphere, these chlorine-
containing chemicals rise and are broken down by sunlight, whereupon the chlorine reacts with and
destroys ozone molecules—up to 100,000 per CFC molecule. For this reason, the use of CFCs in
aerosols has been banned in the United States and elsewhere. Other chemicals, such as bromine
halocarbons, as well as nitrous oxides from fertilizers, may also attack the ozone layer. Destruction of
the ozone layer is predicted to cause increases in skin cancer and cataracts, damage to certain crops
and to plankton and the marine food web, and an increase in carbon dioxide (see Global Warming) due
to the decrease in plants and plankton.

Beginning in the early 1980s, research scientists working in Antarctica have detected a periodic loss of
ozone in the atmosphere high above that continent. The so-called ozone “hole,” a thinned region of the
ozone layer, develops in the Antarctic spring and continues for several months before thickening
again. Studies conducted with high-altitude balloons and weather satellites indicated that the overall
percentage of ozone in the Antarctic ozone layer is actually declining. Flights over the Arctic regions
found a similar problem developing there.

In 1987 the Montréal Protocol, a treaty for the protection of the ozone layer, was signed and later
ratified by 36 nations, including the United States. A total ban on the use of CFCs during the 1990s
was proposed by the European Community (now called the European Union) in 1989, a move
endorsed by U.S. President George Bush. In December 1995 over 100 nations agreed to phase out
developed countries' production of the pesticide methyl bromide, predicted to cause about 15 percent
of ozone depletion by the year 2000. Production of CFCs in developed countries ceased at the end of
1995 and will be phased out in developing countries by 2010. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFCs,
which cause less damage to the ozone layer than CFCs do, are being used as substitutes for CFCs on
an interim basis, until 2020 in developed countries and until 2016 in developing countries. To monitor
ozone depletion on a global level, in 1991 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) launched the 7-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Orbiting earth at an altitude of 600
km (372 mi), the spacecraft measures ozone variations at different altitudes and is providing the first
complete picture of upper atmosphere chemistry.

The World Meteorological Organization observed a 45 percent depletion of the ozone layer over one-
third of the northern hemisphere, from Greenland to western Siberia, for several days during the winter
of 1995-1996. The deficiency was believed to have been caused by chlorine and bromine compounds
combined with polar stratospheric clouds formed under unusually low temperatures.

Greenhouse Effect.

The hot, dry summer of 1988 jogged the public's memory of the threat posed by the greenhouse effect,
in which the buildup of certain gases in the atmosphere—primarily carbon dioxide, but also CFCs,
methane, and lower-atmosphere ozone—trap the sun's heat close to the earth, causing warming as in a
greenhouse. Scientists monitoring the earth's temperature said that the recorded temperature rise in
1988 was more than four times the expected change. Some computer predictions suggested that the
interior of North America, southern Europe, and Siberia would become drier as temperatures rose as a
result of the greenhouse phenomenon. According to climate models, the earth might warm up as much
as 3 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2030 because of greenhouse gases.

Carbon dioxide, the most important gas involved in the greenhouse warming, comes from the burning
of fossil fuels, including oil, coal, and natural gas. It may be impossible at this time to halt completely
the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Adopting alternatives to coal and gas for
fuel would be a place to start, and the greatest gains could be made by increased energy conservation
to curb the burning of fossil fuels.

In 1988, Congress considered but failed to pass two measures to control carbon dioxide emissions.
One bill called for a 20 percent decrease in carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2000. The other
called for completely eliminating the sale or use of CFCs by 1999 and cutting allowable carbon
dioxide emissions in half by 2000. Most of these goals would be accomplished by setting new, tougher
standards on auto and industrial emissions and by promoting more energy-efficient consumer
products.

In addition, greenhouse gases are produced in many manufacturing processes. Perfluorinated

compounds result from the smelting of aluminum. Hydrofluorocarbons form during the manufacture
of many products, including the foams used in insulation, furniture, and car seats. Refrigerators built in
some developing nations still use chlorofluorocarbons as coolants. In addition to their ability to retain
atmospheric heat, some of these synthetic chemicals also destroy Earth’s high-altitude ozone layer, the
protective layer of gases that shields Earth from damaging ultraviolet radiation. For most of the 20th
century these chemicals have been accumulating in the atmosphere at unprecedented rates. But since
1995, in response to regulations enforced by the Montréal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the
Ozone Layer and its amendments, the atmospheric concentrations of many of these gases are either
increasing more slowly or decreasing.

New greenhouse effect gas discoverd

Scientists are growing concerned about other gases produced from manufacturing processes that pose
an environmental risk. In 2000 scientists identified a substantial rise in atmospheric concentrations of a
newly identified synthetic compound called trifluoromethyl sulfur pentafluoride. Atmospheric
concentrations of this gas are rising quickly, and although it still is extremely rare in the atmosphere,
scientists are concerned because the gas traps heat more effectively than all other known greenhouse
gases. Perhaps more worrisome, scientists have been unable to confirm the industrial source of the gas.

CFC harmful effects

CFCs damage the ozone layer when they escape from sources such as leaky car air conditioners,
discarded plastic-foam egg cartons, and old home air conditioners crushed in a landfill. The CFCs drift
up to the stratosphere, an upper layer of the atmosphere where strong ultraviolet radiation from the
Sun breaks them down. As they break down, they release chlorine, which depletes the protective
ozone layer. A single chlorine atom can destroy over 100,000 ozone molecules.

Ozone absorbs ultraviolet radiation. When the ozone layer thins, more of a harmful type of ultraviolet
radiation called UVB reaches Earth’s surface. Studies show that UVB radiation can cause skin cancer.
UVB has also been linked to cataracts of the eye and to suppression of the immune system. Fish,
shrimp, crabs, amphibians, and other animals that live in or around water—including phytoplankton,
microscopic organisms that form the foundation of aquatic food webs—are all at risk from UVB
radiation.
Extended impact
Despite these important steps, previously released CFCs continue to damage the ozone layer because
they can remain in the atmosphere for more than 100 years. Ozone depletion is particularly bad over
the Antarctic, seasonally producing an ozone hole, a large area of the atmosphere that contains
extremely low amounts of ozone. Low levels of ozone have also been observed over the United States,
Canada, Japan, Russia, and Europe. Scientists predict that the highest levels of CFCs in the
atmosphere will occur during the first decade of the 21st century. If international agreements hold, the
ozone layer is expected to recover around 2050.

How Can Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Get to the Stratosphere If They're Heavier

than Air?

Although the CFC molecules are indeed several times heavier than air,
thousands of measurements have been made from balloon.s, aircraft, and
satellites demonstrating that the CFCs are actually present in the
stratosphere. The atmosphere is not stagnant. Winds mix the atmosphere to
altitudes far above the top of the stratosphere much faster than molecules
can settle according to their weight. Gases such as CFCs that are insoluble
in water and relatively unreactive in the lower atmosphere (below about 10
km) are quickly mixed and therefore reach the stratosphere regardless of
their weight.

Much can be learned about the atmospheric fate of compounds from the measured
changes in concentration versus altitude. For example, the two gases carbon
tetrafluoride (CF4, produced mainly as a by-product of the manufacture of
aluminum) and CFC-11 (CCl3F, used in a variety of human activities) are both
much heavier than air. Carbon tetrafluoride is completely unreactive in the
lower 99.9% of the atmosphere, and measurements show it to be nearly
uniformly distributed throughout the atmosphere as shown in the figure. There
have also been measurements over the past two decades of several other
completely unreactive gases, one lighter than air (neon) and some heavier
than air (argon, krypton), which show that they also mix upward uniformly
through the stratosphere regardless of their weight, just as observed with
carbon tetrafluoride. CFC-11 is unreactive in the lower atmosphere (below
about 15 km) and is similarly uniformly mixed there, as shown. The abundance
of CFC-11 decreases as the gas reaches higher altitudes, where it is broken
down by high energy solar ultraviolet radiation. Chlorine released from this
breakdown of CFC-11 and other CFCs remains in the stratosphere for several
years, where it destroys many thousands of molecules of ozone.

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Common Questions about Ozone