Ozone Depletion | National Geographic

[Narrator] 15 to 35 kilometers above Earth’s surface, a gas called ozone surrounds the planet. The ozone layer acts as a barrier between Earth and ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. However, pollution has caused the ozone layer to thin, exposing life on Earth to dangerous radiation.

(Upbeat piano music)

Earth’s atmosphere is made up of six layers. The second layer, called the stratosphere, contains the ozone layer. The ozone layer is made up of a highly reactive molecule called ozone, which contains three oxygen atoms. Ozone is a trace gas in the atmosphere. There are only about three molecules for every 10 million molecules of air, but it does a very important job.

The ozone layer acts as Earth’s sunscreen, absorbing about 98% of damaging ultraviolet or UV light. But the ozone layer has gotten thinner. Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs are the primary culprits in ozone layer breakdown. A CFC is a molecule that contains the elements carbon, chlorine, and fluorine.

CFCs are mostly found in refrigerants, aerosols, and plastic products. When CFCs are exposed to ultraviolet rays in the atmosphere, they break down into substances that include chlorine. The chlorine reacts with the oxygen atoms in ozone and rips apart the ozone molecule.

Areas of damage in the ozone layer are often called ozone holes, but that name is misleading. Ozone layer damage is more like a thin patch, with the thinnest areas near the poles. The ozone layer above the Antarctic, in particular, has been impacted by pollution since the mid-1980s. There, the region’s low temperatures speed up the conversion of CFCs to ozone-damaging chlorine.

About 90% of CFCs currently in the atmosphere were emitted by industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere. In 1989, the Montreal Protocol banned the production of ozone-depleting substances. Since then, the amount of chlorine and other ozone-depleting elements in the atmosphere have been falling.

Scientists estimate that chlorine levels will return to their natural state in about 50 years. By then, the Antarctic ozone hole will shrink to smaller than eight million square miles.