Why is there hardly any mention of the "ozone hole" anymore? Is it the lie of the century, or has it healed?

What was the most mentioned environmental issue in the late 20th and early 21st centuries? Probably the first thing that comes to most people's mind is only the greenhouse effect, while ignoring another issue that is also of great concern - the hole in the ozone layer.

At the beginning of the century, the ozone hole at the Earth's poles was written into textbooks, and the crisis facing the Earth's ozone layer seemed to have reached an urgent stage, and even began to threaten the survival of mankind.

But with the passage of time, the "ozone layer hole" this global disaster level event, somehow gradually forgotten, so that now almost no one to mention it, and even more directly do not know the existence of this matter.

Why would this bizarre situation occur? Is it because the hole has healed, or because it is simply a lie of the century? Let's read on.

What is the ozone layer?

Unlike what many people think, the ozone layer is not located in the outermost part of the Earth's atmosphere, but in the stratosphere, and in a sense, it is actually part of the stratosphere where ozone concentrations are high.

For all creatures on earth, the ozone layer is an essential thing because it can absorb ultraviolet rays below 306.3nm in sunlight, so that this part of the destructive ultraviolet rays cannot cause harm to surface creatures, like an umbrella to protect the earth's creatures to live and reproduce.

According to the report, the existence of the ozone layer will prevent at least 100 million cases of skin cancer and millions of eye diseases by the end of this century.

In addition to its primary protective role, the ozone layer also absorbs ultraviolet rays from the sun and converts them into heat to heat the atmosphere, which has a very important impact and helps the overall circulation of the atmosphere.

How such an important ozone layer was formed

Hundreds of millions of years ago, there was actually no ozone layer on the earth, so the earth's surface would be exposed to intense ultraviolet radiation, which resulted in almost no life existing on the surface, and only a small amount of life surviving in the water, because water can absorb ultraviolet rays.

Later, as plants emerged, they continued to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting it into oxygen and diffusing it into the air through photosynthesis.

This oxygen is "struck" by ultraviolet light in the upper layers of the atmosphere and turns into two atoms, which then merge with the unstruck oxygen to produce ozone (O₃). More than 90% of the ozone in the atmosphere is formed in this way.

Is the ozone hole real?

It is true, and not the "lie of the century". Since 1970, scientists have found that the ozone layer over Antarctica thins rapidly during certain seasons, creating a so-called "hole" based on measurements from the Total Ozone Observing Satellite (TOMS).

In 1985, the thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica even reached a staggering 70 percent. This situation is very alarming to scientists because the ozone layer is extremely important to surface life, and if it has problems causing high UV intensity at the surface, it will cause very serious health and environmental problems.

For example, excessive UV rays can destroy the human immune system, causing various disorders in the autoimmune system and increasing the risk of developing malignant diseases.

In addition, the leaves of plants will also become smaller due to excessive UV light, which will directly affect their photosynthesis, so that the output of the plant is drastically reduced. This will directly affect their photosynthesis, resulting in a drastic reduction in plant output. In parallel with the reduction in output, UV light will also affect the quality of output. According to relevant studies, for every 20% reduction in the thickness of the ozone layer, global soybean production will be reduced by 20% to 25%.

How does the ozone hole form?

The formation and expansion of the ozone hole can be divided into natural and man-made causes. First of all, analyzing from the natural point of view, ozone consists of 3 oxygen atoms and the area with the largest concentration is usually located 20~25 km from the ground.

Ozone is a very chemically unstable substance that is able to undergo some kind of chemical reaction in the ozone layer, thus breaking down the ozone into oxygen molecules and oxygen atoms and thus destroying the ozone layer.

In addition, from the man-made point of view, human beings use a lot of foaming agents, fire extinguishers, insecticides, refrigerants and so on in their lives, and the process of using these products will produce chlorofluorocarbons, which is often referred to as Freon.

Chlorofluorocarbons are discharged into the air and will rise to the top of the ozone layer, where ultraviolet light will break down the chlorine atoms, and the chlorine atoms that are broken down will plunder the oxygen atoms in the ozone, making the ozone turn into oxygen and eventually lose the ability to absorb ultraviolet light.

In addition, the unrestricted use of fertilizers in agriculture, which can produce large amounts of nitrogen oxide, is also one of the main causes of the thinning of the ozone layer. This shows that the culprit of the hole in the ozone layer is actually man himself.

After realizing that HCFCs can cause irreversible damage to the ozone layer, 45 countries signed the Montreal Protocol in 1987 to avoid and control the continued damage to the ozone layer caused by HCFCs, and also codified the importance of the ozone layer to mankind in textbooks that have influenced a generation.

Why is there hardly any mention of the ozone hole anymore?

The reason is simple: it's no longer a threat. The ozone hole in the Arctic has completely "healed" and the larger hole in the Antarctic is slowly recovering, thanks to a joint human effort to "help themselves".

Note that the hole over the Antarctic region is not completely "healed", its size is still changing with the seasons, for example, in July and August each year will begin to increase, until about October to reach the limit, and then become smaller again.

Of course, the ozone hole in the Antarctic is much smaller than it was decades ago when chlorofluorocarbons were abused. According to scientists' prediction, the ozone layer over Antarctica should be able to recover to the 1980 level in 2060~2075, and there is no accurate answer as to when it will be fully recovered.