The OZONE Layer is Repairing itself. Says NASA

The hole in the ozone layer is closing, according to NASA.

Did you forget it? Yet the ozone hole had been the subject of intense discussion in the 1980s and 1990s. Good news, according to a study by NASA, the ozone layer is slowly self-repair. A process that will take many more years, since it should be like new in 2060.

Back to the early 1980s. It was at this time, explains Mashable, that scientists realized the danger to ozone of sprays, refrigerants and air conditioners, which then contained chlorofluorocarbons (or CFCs). Simply put, when the sun's rays come into contact with these chemicals, they turn into chlorine atoms, which eventually destroy the ozone molecules. This is where we start talking about a hole in the ozone layer. A terrifying prospect, since "ozone absorbs harmful radiation from the sun".

Several countries quickly decided to sign the Montreal Protocol, which prohibits the use of CFCs. All nations on the planet will eventually join the agreement. As a result, the hole is now at its smallest size measured since 1988. "It is a success story when you see all the damage caused by mankind to the Earth," enthuses Newsweek.

According to satellite images used by NASA between 2005 and 2016, the chlorine levels in the hole have dropped by almost 1% each year. But it will take years for this hole to completely disappear, says Anne Douglass, a NASA atmospheric scientist and co-author of the study:

"CFS have a lifespan of about 100 years, so they can stay in our atmosphere for a very long time. It will take until 2060 or 2080 for the hole to completely disappear, and again, a small hole may remain ”.

How to identify and repair the "hole" in the ozone layer?

Based on measurements taken on the upper atmosphere over the past 20 years, it appears that ozone is becoming scarce. Preventive measures would help preserve the ozone layer.


The conclusions of a report published in 1989 by the World Meteorological Organization (O.M.M.) show that the ozone layer decreased, between 1978 and 1988, by 1% in the Northern hemisphere. In addition, since that date we have witnessed a rapid and localized reduction of stratospheric ozone in the Antarctic every spring in October (this is the "ozone hole"). It is, in fact, only a decrease in the concentration of stratospheric ozone.
These observations are made by an instrument, the TOMS (spectrometer mapping total ozone) on board the Nimbus 7 satellite.

What is called an ozone "hole" is in fact only a decrease in the concentration of ozone in the upper layers of the atmosphere, known as the stratosphere.

For the moment, the scientific hypotheses on the origin of a long-term regression of "useful ozone" remain very contradictory and the laboratory models difficult to extrapolate to atmospheric, varied and complex phenomena.

The effects of ozone-depleting substances appear to be felt only ten to twenty years or more behind.

An international agreement prohibiting, before the end of the century, the use and production of C.F.C., was concluded in 1987 in Montreal and then updated in London in 1990. The C.F.C. taking seven years to reach the ozone layer, it will be necessary to wait until 2045 for it to return to the level of the 70s. And even if the irrefutable proof of the preponderant role of CFCs, coming from industry, in the degradation of the ozone has not been made, when in doubt, scientists say that humans can only play sorcerer's apprentices. The only solution to prevent the use of CFC's.

The only possible action is to prevent the phenomenon by limiting the pollutants released. Will this be enough? There are no plans at the moment to produce ozone (which we know how to do in the laboratory) to release it into the upper atmosphere.

In addition, the ozone produced in the lower layers of the atmosphere during episodes of photochemical pollution in summer cannot replace the ozone destroyed at high altitude.