Climate Change May Tear New Ozone Holes

By Paula MeltonGlobal warming could unravel the delicate chemical fabric of Earth’s protective ozone layer, according to preliminary research conducted at Harvard University. A projected increase in strong summer storms, which can send water vapor deep into the stratosphere, is behind the newly discovered risk; this “convectively injected” vapor warms the atmosphere, which could cause trapped chlorine to react with and deplete ozone. Unlike the wintertime thinning over the Arctic and Antarctica that threatened the planet in the 1980s, the new ozone holes would form directly over populated areas of the U.S. during the summer, vastly increasing dangerous UV exposure and threatening human health, agriculture, and ecosystems.

Unknowns remain—the effect of climate change on convective injection is not yet understood, and atmospheric chlorine levels have not been measured—but lead researcher James Anderson, Ph.D., told

National Geographic News that if climate change and ozone depletion turn out to be intimately linked, the findings could lead people “to step up and take responsibility for what is actually occurring” because of the direct threat to their health.

For more information, read “Summer Storms to Create New Ozone Holes As Earth Warms?” at news.nationalgeographic.com.