Setting Global Air Currents Closer To Normal

Repairing the ozone layer:

The shred of good news comes as scientists observe that the ozone layer over Antarctica has recovered to the point that several atmospheric changes in the Earth’s southern hemisphere have come to a halt. Before the start of the century, the changes were enough to cause dramatic change in weather patterns in several parts of the world.

A new study now suggests that the reversing conditions or in more optimistic words, the healing of the Earth, can be accredited to the Montreal Protocol signed by the world leaders back in 1987. The pact directed nations across the globe to stop using ozone depleting substances (ODSs) for several applications.

By the time the pact came into effect, Ozone depletion had already caused the fast air currents (called jet streams) in the southern hemisphere to shift further south, causing changes in weather patterns and a dry spell in many areas accustomed to rainfall. This southward drift of the jet streams suddenly stopped after more than a decade of the Montreal Protocol, around the year 2000. Only last year, the Ozone layer hole over Antarctica was recorded to be at its smallest since 1982.