Ozone Layer and Greenhouse Effect

Ozone Layer and the Greenhouse Effect

Ozone is gaseous element which present in our atmosphere by naturally. Ozone layer is found in stratosphere. It has blue color. It is a very important element for the living being on earth. The ozone layer found in the lower portion of the stratosphere. In stratosphere there are 90% of ozone gas can be found and the rest 10% ozone gas is found in the lower region of the atmosphere which is troposphere. Which is 15 to 35 km above from earth. Ozone layer was founded by physicists Henri Buisson and Charles Fabry in 1913. It has the same structure as oxygen but different number of atoms.

The harmful UV radiation ray is very dangerous for living being in our planet. It causes skin cancer for animal and can damage the leap cell of plants. In the stratosphere of the earth atmosphere the ozone layer absorbs the UV (ultraviolet) radiation rays for the sun light. Ozone layer also absorbs UVB radiation rays. This UVB radiation rays is very dangerous for marine ecosystem and plants. Sometime atmospheric ozone called “good ozone”, because it’s protected our planet from harmful radioactive rays. But the ground level ozone gas can pollute our air and can damage our Lung.

Ozone is comprised of three oxygen atoms and it is highly reactive.

Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland two chemists at the university of California, Irvine first publish an article about threats to the ozone layer from chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gas. In aerosol sprays and refrigerator CFCs were used.  The CFCs beak down into substance include chlorine when it reaches the stratosphere by the help of sun’s UV rays.

Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1995. They said that, “Atmosphere had a finite capacity for absorbing chlorine atoms in the stratosphere”.

More than 100,000 ozone molecules can be destroying by one atom of chlorine said by U.S Environment Protection Agency.

Rowland and Molina’s work proved when a hole in the ozone layer was found by the team of an English scientists, and later it is linked with CFCs. The hole was an area with low amount of ozone gas present in stratosphere. In spring long duration of sunlight, releases more chlorine into the stratospheric cloud. And the stratospheric gas destroys ozone layer.

Today status of the ozone layer

More than 30 years after the Montreal Protocol, NASA scientists proved that, Antarctic ozone is recovering because of the CFC phase-down. In this area depletion of ozone has decline 20% since 2005. And the end of 2018 united Nations scientist said that ozone layer is recovering and by 2030 the non-polar would heal the ozone layer 100%, and in south-polar or South Hemisphere it would take 2050 - 2060 to heal 100 percent.

Our world is not yet 100% clear when it comes to harmful gases from coolants. Some Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are less harmful then CHCs but still they are harming ozone layer. Developing countries now releasing more HCFCs in atmosphere. The Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund need be more widely in those developing country to stop emission those harmful gas in earth atmosphere.

Ozone layer is the natural sunscreen. It protects us from any dangerous suns ray. Without the ozone layer human screen would have burn and plants leap cell would have destroyed, and many plants would have died. Without plants food chain would collapse. The ozone layer makes green house by help of carbon dioxide. The green house helps to keep some heat inside earth. Now a days the green house effect is a threat for us. Because less heat is important for our planet but larger number of carbon dioxide is creating problem by increasing earth heat. North and south pole ice melting every day and water level of sea is rising. So, we should aware from the beginning to keep earth a safe place for all living beings.