The Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depletion CFCs or CO2 -A Dilemma?

1992 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-210
Author(s):  
George Courville
2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 7697-7707 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Daniel ◽  
E. L. Fleming ◽  
R. W. Portmann ◽  
G. J. M. Velders ◽  
C. H. Jackman ◽  
...  

Abstract. Hypothetical reductions in future emissions of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) and N2O are evaluated in terms of effects on equivalent effective stratospheric chlorine (EESC), globally-averaged total column ozone, and radiative forcing through 2100. Due to the established success of the Montreal Protocol, these actions can have only a fraction of the impact on ozone depletion that regulations already in force have had. If all anthropogenic ODS and N2O emissions were halted beginning in 2011, ozone is calculated to be higher by about 1–2% during the period 2030–2100 compared to a case of no additional restrictions. Direct radiative forcing by 2100 would be about 0.23 W/m2 lower from the elimination of anthropogenic N2O emissions and about 0.005 W/m2 lower from the destruction of the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) bank. Due to the potential impact of N2O on future ozone levels, we provide an approach to incorporate it into the EESC formulation, which is used extensively in ozone depletion analyses. The ability of EESC to describe total ozone changes arising from additional ODS and N2O controls is also quantified.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Vaníček ◽  
L. Metelka ◽  
P. Skřivánková ◽  
M. Staněk

Abstract. Homogenized data series of total ozone measurements taken by the regularly and well calibrated Dobson and Brewer spectrophotometers at Hradec Králové (Czech) and the data from the re-analyses ERA-40 and ERA-Interim were merged and compared to investigate differences between the particular data sets originated in Central Europe, the Northern Hemisphere (NH) mid-latitudes. The Dobson-to-Brewer transfer function and the algorithm for approximation of the data from the re-analyses were developed, tested and applied for creation of instrumentally consistent and completed total ozone data series of the 50-yr period 1961–2010 of observations. This correction has reduced the well-known seasonal differences between Dobson and Brewer data below the 1% calibration limit of the spectrophotometers. Incorporation of the ERA-40 and ERA-Interim total ozone data on days with missing measurements significantly improved completeness and reliability of the data series mainly in the first two decades of the period concerned. Consistent behaviour of the original and corrected/merged data sets was found in the pre-ozone-hole period (1961–1985). In the post-Pinatubo (1994–2010) era the data series show seasonal differences that can introduce uncertainty in estimation of ozone recovery mainly in the winter-spring season when the effect of the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments is expected. All the data sets confirm substantial depletion of ozone also in the summer months that gives rise to the question about its origin. The merged and completed data series of total ozone will be further analyzed to quantify chemical ozone losses and contribution of natural atmospheric processes to the ozone depletion over the region. This case study points out the importance of selection and evaluation of the quality and consistency of the input data sets used in estimation of long-term ozone changes including recovery of the ozone layer over the selected areas. Data are available from the PANGAEA database at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.779819.


Author(s):  
John H. Dyer

Describes the properties of the halogenated fire extinguishants Halon 1211 and 1301, their role in ozone depletion and their proposed replacements. Because of their adverse effects on the depletion of the ozone layer, production of Halon 1211 and Halon 1301 is restricted by the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Identifies producers who are conducting research and development for alternative products with low toxicity and zero ozone depletion factors.


2006 ◽  
Vol 361 (1469) ◽  
pp. 769-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Sherwood Rowland

Solar ultraviolet radiation creates an ozone layer in the atmosphere which in turn completely absorbs the most energetic fraction of this radiation. This process both warms the air, creating the stratosphere between 15 and 50 km altitude, and protects the biological activities at the Earth's surface from this damaging radiation. In the last half-century, the chemical mechanisms operating within the ozone layer have been shown to include very efficient catalytic chain reactions involving the chemical species HO, HO 2 , NO, NO 2 , Cl and ClO. The NO X and ClO X chains involve the emission at Earth's surface of stable molecules in very low concentration (N 2 O, CCl 2 F 2 , CCl 3 F, etc.) which wander in the atmosphere for as long as a century before absorbing ultraviolet radiation and decomposing to create NO and Cl in the middle of the stratospheric ozone layer. The growing emissions of synthetic chlorofluorocarbon molecules cause a significant diminution in the ozone content of the stratosphere, with the result that more solar ultraviolet-B radiation (290–320 nm wavelength) reaches the surface. This ozone loss occurs in the temperate zone latitudes in all seasons, and especially drastically since the early 1980s in the south polar springtime—the ‘Antarctic ozone hole’. The chemical reactions causing this ozone depletion are primarily based on atomic Cl and ClO, the product of its reaction with ozone. The further manufacture of chlorofluorocarbons has been banned by the 1992 revisions of the 1987 Montreal Protocol of the United Nations. Atmospheric measurements have confirmed that the Protocol has been very successful in reducing further emissions of these molecules. Recovery of the stratosphere to the ozone conditions of the 1950s will occur slowly over the rest of the twenty-first century because of the long lifetime of the precursor molecules.


1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 17-22
Author(s):  
Stephen Andersen

The amendments to the Montreal Protocol and the 1990 Clean Air Act call for the accelerated reduction of fully halogenated CFCs and halons. Recent scientific data indicate that these chemicals are more damaging to the earth's ozone layer than previously thought. This ozone depletion has serious consequences for the environment and human health. These chemical compounds are scheduled for phaseout under the Montreal Protocol and Clean Air Act. Because CFC-13 and methyl chloroform are used extensively in the electronics industry worldwide, the industry and the U.S. EPA have formed a partnership to develop technically feasible, cost-effective, and environmentally sound alternatives for ozone-depleting substances.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Zambri ◽  
Susan Solomon ◽  
David Thompson ◽  
Qiang Fu

<p>Ozone depletion in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) stratosphere in the late 20<sup>th</sup> century cooled the air there, strengthening the SH stratospheric westerly winds near 60ºS and altering SH surface climate. Since ~1999, trends in Antarctic ozone have begun to recover, exhibiting a flattening followed by a sign reversal in response to decreases in stratospheric chlorine concentration due to the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty banning the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. Here we show that the post–1999 increase in ozone has resulted in thermal and circulation changes of opposite sign to those that resulted from stratospheric ozone losses, including a warming of the SH polar lower stratosphere and a weakening of the SH stratospheric polar vortex.  Further, these altered trends extend to the upper troposphere, albeit of smaller magnitudes.  Observed post–1999 trends of temperature and circulation in the stratosphere are about 20–25% the magnitude of those of the ozone depletion era, and are broadly consistent with expectations based on modeled depletion-era trends and variability of both ozone and reactive chlorine, thereby indicating the emergence of healing of dynamical impacts of the Antarctic ozone hole.</p>


1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 1110-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Henderson ◽  
J. C. McConnell ◽  
S. R. Beagley ◽  
W. F. J. Evans

Rapid springtime depletion of column ozone (O3) is observed over the Antarctic during the austral spring. A much weaker springtime depletion is observed in the Arctic region. This depletion results from a complex chemical mechanism that involves the catalytic destruction of stratospheric ozone by chlorine. The chemical mechanism appears to operate between ~12–25 km in the colder regions of the polar winter vortices. During the polar night heterogeneous chemical reactions occur on the surface of polar stratospheric clouds that convert relatively inert reservoir Cl species such as HCl to active Cl species. These clouds form when temperatures drop below about 197 K and are ubiquitous throughout the polar winter region. At polar sunrise the reactive Cl species are photolysed, liberating large quantities of free Cl that subsequently catalytically destroys O3 with a mechanism involving the formation of the Cl2O2 dimer. The magnitude of the spring depletion is much greater in the Antarctic relative to the Arctic owing to the greater stability and longer duration of the southern polar vortex. Breakup of the intense high-latitude vortices in late (Antarctic) or early (Arctic) spring results in infilling of the ozone holes but adversely affects midlatitude ozone levels by diluting them with O3-depleted, ClO-rich high-latitude air. The magnitude of the Antarctic ozone depletion has been increasing since 1979 and its current depletion in October 1990 amounts to 60%. The increase in the size of the depletion is anticorrelated with increasing anthropogenic chlorofluorocarbon (CFCs) release. Adherence to the revised Montréal Protocol should result in a reduction of stratospheric halogen levels with subsequent amelioration of polar ozone depletion but the time constant for the atmosphere to return to pre-CFC levels is ~60–100 years.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 445-473
Author(s):  
K. Vaníček ◽  
L. Metelka ◽  
P. Skřivánková ◽  
M. Staněk

Abstract. Homogenized data series of total ozone measurements taken by the regularly and well calibrated Dobson and Brewer spectrophotometers at Hradec Králové (Czech) and the data from the re-analyses ERA-40 and ERA-Interim were assimilated and combined to investigate differences between the particular data sets over Central Europe, the NH mid-latitudes. The Dobson-to-Brewer transfer function and the algorithm for approximation of the data from the re-analyses were developed, tested and applied for creation of instrumentally consistent and completed total ozone data series of the 50-yr period 1961–2010 of observations. The assimilation has reduced the well-known seasonal differences between Dobson and Brewer data below the 1% calibration limit of the spectrophotometers. Incorporation of the ERA-40 and ERA-Interim total ozone data on days with missing measurements significantly improved completeness and reliability of the data series mainly in the first two decades of the period concerned. Consistent behaviour of the original and assimilated data sets was found in the pre-ozone-hole period (1961–1985). In the post-Pinatubo (1994–2010) era the data series show seasonal differences that can introduce uncertainty in estimation of ozone recovery mainly in the winter-spring season when the effect of the Montreal Protocol and its Amendments is expected. All the data sets confirm substantial depletion of ozone also in the summer months that gives rise to the question about its origin. The assimilated and completed data series of total ozone will be further analyzed to quantify chemical ozone losses and contribution of natural atmospheric processes to the ozone depletion over the region. This case study points out importance of selection and evaluation of the quality and consistency of the input data sets used in estimation of long-term ozone changes including recovery of the ozone layer over the selected areas. Data are available from the PANGAEA database at http://dx.doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.779819.


1969 ◽  
pp. 818
Author(s):  
Timothy C. Faries

The author, after examining the existing international law on ozone layer protection, explains the current scientific knowledge about the causes and effects of ozone layer depletion. The author then embarks on a discussion of the sources of international environmental law on ozone depletion, and draws analogies to the broader area of international law dealing with state responsibility for transnational air pollution emanating from within its territory. Mr. Fades then proceeds to provide a brief history of the events leading up to the signing of the Montreal Protocol, followed by an analysis of the subtleties of the Protocol, and suggestions for reform.


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