As per SCIENTISTS, they have won the battle to stop ozone depletion, with the hole above Antarctica gradually closing.
But they warn this good work is rapidly being doomed by the growing effects of greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of climate change.
Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Climate system Science Laureate Fellow Prof Matthew England said the Antarctic ozone hole's influence on the climate in Tasmania and the southern hemisphere was dissipating as the hole slowly closed.
But Prof England, also co-director of the University of New South Wales's Climate Change Research Centre, warned the good work in reducing CFCs from the atmosphere would be progressively overridden by human-induced emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Prof Sherwood said the Montreal Protocol that banned CFC use in the mid-1980s was directly responsible for improving ozone conditions above the Antarctic.
"We know it will take a very long time to recover completely because it takes several decades for the natural process to remove the pollutants from the atmosphere," Prof Sherwood said.
"But the Montreal Protocol is one of the few success stories that we can point to of this kind, where scientists figured out there was a problem (and) the nations of the world worked together to phase out the problem."
But Prof Sherwood said growing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threatened to unhinge efforts to reverse ozone depletion.
He said greenhouses gases the carbon dioxide emissions responsible for global warming cooled the stratosphere, which served to enhance ozone depletion.
"Therefore adding more greenhouses gases to the atmosphere is helping to promote the ozone hole," he said.
"It's fighting against the good outcomes of the reduction of the CFCs."
Prof Sherwood said there was already evidence of the detrimental impact of carbon dioxide on ozone in the northern hemisphere. Source: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/12/11/283601_tasmania-news.html
But they warn this good work is rapidly being doomed by the growing effects of greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of climate change.
Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Climate system Science Laureate Fellow Prof Matthew England said the Antarctic ozone hole's influence on the climate in Tasmania and the southern hemisphere was dissipating as the hole slowly closed.
But Prof England, also co-director of the University of New South Wales's Climate Change Research Centre, warned the good work in reducing CFCs from the atmosphere would be progressively overridden by human-induced emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
Prof Sherwood said the Montreal Protocol that banned CFC use in the mid-1980s was directly responsible for improving ozone conditions above the Antarctic.
"We know it will take a very long time to recover completely because it takes several decades for the natural process to remove the pollutants from the atmosphere," Prof Sherwood said.
"But the Montreal Protocol is one of the few success stories that we can point to of this kind, where scientists figured out there was a problem (and) the nations of the world worked together to phase out the problem."
But Prof Sherwood said growing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere threatened to unhinge efforts to reverse ozone depletion.
He said greenhouses gases the carbon dioxide emissions responsible for global warming cooled the stratosphere, which served to enhance ozone depletion.
"Therefore adding more greenhouses gases to the atmosphere is helping to promote the ozone hole," he said.
"It's fighting against the good outcomes of the reduction of the CFCs."
Prof Sherwood said there was already evidence of the detrimental impact of carbon dioxide on ozone in the northern hemisphere. Source: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/12/11/283601_tasmania-news.html
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