{"id":397625,"date":"2022-08-29T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?post_type=selected&p=397625"},"modified":"2022-08-29T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T07:45:00","slug":"new-method-assesses-the-health-of-the-ozone-layer","status":"publish","type":"selected","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/new-method-assesses-the-health-of-the-ozone-layer\/","title":{"rendered":"New method assesses the health of the ozone layer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ozone layer\u202fsits in the stratosphere – between 15 km and 30 km above the Earth -\u202fand provides a shield from some of the sun\u2019s harmful ultraviolet radiation.\u202f\u00a0Without this ozone protection, higher levels of ultraviolet radiation would\u202freach the Earth\u2019s surface and result in an increased\u202fincidence\u202fof skin cancer and eye disease as well as adversely effecting plants and crops, writes the University of Leeds in a press release<\/a>.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the late 1980s, an international agreement called the Montreal Protocol<\/a>\u202fhas resulted in the phasing out of ozone-depleting chemicals, particularly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which were used in, for example, refrigeration and air conditioning systems. As a consequence, the hole and thinning that was once seen in the ozone layer has been reducing.\u202f But the rate at which the ozone layer is being replenished is slow, and recently some renewed, illegal production of CFCs has occurred.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A team of scientists from the University of Leeds, the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, the National Centre for Earth Observation\u202fand the University of Cambridge has developed a new method\u202fto help regulators more accurately assess the impact of the release of ozone-depleting chemicals\u202f\u2013\u202fand the effectiveness of ozone layer protection measures.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New metric<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Known as the Integrated Ozone Depletion (IOD) metric, the new measurement considers three things:\u202fthe strength of the emission, how long it will remain in the atmosphere, and how much ozone is chemically destroyed by it.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Martyn Chipperfield, an atmospheric scientist and Director of the\u202fInstitute for Climate and Atmospheric Science<\/a>\u202fat Leeds,\u202fand one of the authors of the study, said: \u201cFor many decades scientists have used a very simple measure of how the ozone layer is recovering. That was useful in many ways but could not deal with widely varying scenarios of emissions of ozone-depleting substances.\u202f\u202f\u201cThe new tool will provide a better measure of how the ozone layer is recovering.\u201d\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IOD metric will also enable scientists to estimate the effect of any new illegal or unregulated emissions on the ozone layer.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assessing ozone layer recovery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lead author Professor John Pyle, of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the University of Cambridge, said\u202fit was time for a new method to assess the state of the ozone layer.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFollowing the Montreal Protocol, we are now in a new phase – assessing the recovery of the ozone layer. \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Lightning-fast recycling of discarded refrigerators by robotic arm and special drill head<\/div>
Where previously discarded refrigerators went straight into the shredder, nowadays recycling them is becoming more and more the norm. However, environmentally harmful oils and gases do need to be removed from the refrigerator’s compressor.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThis new phase calls for new metrics, like the Integrated Ozone Depletion. Our new metric can measure the impact of emissions – regardless of their size. Using an atmospheric chemistry computer model, we have been able to demonstrate a simple linear relationship between the IOD, the size of the emissions and the chemical lifetimes. \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, with knowledge of the lifetimes, it is a simple matter to calculate the IOD, making this an excellent metric both for science and policy.\u201d\u202f <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":512496,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[128424,128426,20947,46284,128428],"location":[55977],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-397625","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-montreal-protocol","tag-ozone-layer","tag-pollution","tag-university-of-cambridge","tag-university-of-leeds-3","location-united-kingdom"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/2021-12-07-18.49.17-scaled.jpg","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/","display_name":"Mauro Mereu"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 29, 2022","modified":"Updated on August 29, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 29, 2022 9:45 am","modified":"Updated on August 29, 2022 9:45 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sustainability<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["Montreal Protocol<\/a>","ozone layer<\/a>","pollution<\/a>","University of Cambridge<\/a>","University of Leeds<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Montreal Protocol<\/span>","ozone layer<\/span>","pollution<\/span>","University of Cambridge<\/span>","University of Leeds<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["United Kingdom<\/a>"],"unlinked":["United Kingdom<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/397625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397625"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=397625"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=397625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}