A scientist recently claimed that he had discovered a giant hole in the ozone layer above the tropics in the 1980's, but was unaware of it until now. The scientist received a lot of criticism for his study after it was published.
The Science Media Centre, an independent U.K.-based press office that works, was surprised that the study was published at all.
The claim of large ozone changes in the tropics has not been seen in other studies. The new work needs to be verified before it can be accepted as fact.
The author of the new study, a professor in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, disagrees with some of the criticisms. He told Live Science in an email that the criticisms were groundless.
The study found that coming increase in rocket launches will harm ozone.
The report was published in a journal. An independent reviewer determined that the study was suitable for publication after going through the journal's standard peer-review process. The journal's editors decided that the work was worth a featured article on their website.
We have not received any questioning of its validity from the outside community. "We encourage readers and researchers to contact the authors whenever possible to discuss potential technical deficiencies so they can be addressed in the literature or in comments and responses." Readers are able to contact the journal directly. If necessary, the journal would request an explanation from the author and correct the literature if needed.
Ozone forms in the upper atmosphere. The atmospheric layer that covers the planet's surface is called the ozone layer. The gas protects Earth from the UV rays of the sun.
When exposed to UV rays beyond the ozone layer, long-lived atmospheric pollutants called chlorofluorocarbons break down into chlorine and bromine. These elements tear O3 molecule apart and thin out regions of the ozone layer, creating "holes" in the ozone layer.
An ozone hole is defined as a region where the ozone concentration dips below 220 "Dobson Units", a measure of the number of ozone molecules in a given column of air. According to the World Meteorological Organization, the ozone layer is on the road to recovery, thanks to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty aimed at phasing out the production of ozone-depleting chemicals.
Billions of people living in the tropics may be at risk from a new ozone hole.
Lu discovered a large and all-season ozone hole in the lower stratosphere over the tropics. He reported that the hole is seven times larger than the one in the springtime and is similar to the seasonal ozone hole.
Ozone hole 2.0 may be caused by air pollution from reentering satellites.
The whole-year large tropical O3 hole could cause a great global concern as it can lead to increases in ground level ultraviolet radiation and affect 50% of the Earth's surface area, which is home to approximately 50% of the world's population. The incidence of skin cancer and cataracts in humans could be increased by exposure to enhanced UV-B levels.
Lu defined a hole as an area of O3 loss greater than 25% compared with the undisturbed atmosphere. The new definition is justified because the ozone holes over the North Pole were marked by a 25% drop in ozone. Lu noted in his report that "no ozone hole over the tropics would be observed by the conventional definition of an ozone hole."
The Science Media Centre received a critique of Lu's study from several experts.
Paul Young, an atmospheric scientist at Lancaster University in England and co-lead author of the 2022 Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, said there is no "tropical ozone hole".
Young said that the author's identification of a "tropical ozone hole" is down to him looking at percentage changes in ozone rather than absolute changes. The literature that explores and documents ozone trends in all regions of the atmosphere is not used in his article.
The Brewer-Dobson circulation is a global pattern of air circulation that pushes ozone out of the tropics and towards the poles. Climate change explains the long-term patterns of ozone depletion observed in the tropics.
balos lvarez said thatLu's article lacks the scientific rigor needed to be a reliable contribution. There is a lot of reasoning with serious errors and false assertions.
It was originally published on Live Science
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