|
|
Article: Ozone layer making tentative improvements.(Environmental Intelligence)
- Article from:
- World Watch
- Article date:
- November 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Worldwatch Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Two recent studies indicate that the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 treaty designed to protect the eroded stratospheric ozone layer, is finally beginning to work. Because it takes time for harmful chemicals to migrate up through the atmosphere to sensitive ozone layers, scientists are only now able to measure the effects of reductions begun in 1987. Both studies found that atmospheric concentrations of ozone-depleting substances are increasing more slowly than before. As a result, ozone in the upper stratosphere (35 to 45 kilometers above ground) is now declining at about 4 percent per decade, half the 1980s rate.
"This is the beginning of a recovery of the ozone ...