Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Resulted in Arctic Warming, Study Finds

Researchers blame carbon emissions and greenhouse gases liable for rapidly melting ice sheets. Well, there’s another culprit for the same. A new research claims loss of the ozone layer may have partially contributed for Arctic warming over the past five decades. A global group of experts says the discovery has stressed ODS (ozone-depleting substances) as an undetermined origin of climate transformation in the 20th century. ODS is a cluster of extremely powerful greenhouse gases. Besides, these are halogen compounds that wipe out the defensive layer of ozone in the high atmosphere. The latest study reveals the gases may be liable for over half of Arctic warming and loss of sea ice between 1955 to 2005. Even more, researchers claim ODS for around one-third of the average global warming throughout the period. 

The finding, released in the journal Nature Climate Change, relies on several climate prototypes. Through this, researchers aim to analyze the impact of these compounds on the temperature rise of the Arctic, particularly ice loss. If there’s any ray of hope, it reveals that the hard work to eliminate them in the eighties was a great idea for the environment as well as the ozone layer. ODS are artificial chemicals like CFC or chlorofluorocarbons. Those compounds firstly emerged between 1920-1930 for use in aerosol propellants, refrigerators, or solvents. Scientists are hopping over the point because the use of ODS increased as refrigerators gained popularity. During the trial, the team has considered two scenarios. 

In the first one, includes the emissions followed the direction they did over the upcoming five decades. In another one, researchers had kept the ODS at the levels of 1955. The outcomes have revealed that beneath the baseline scenario, the average yearly rise in global temperatures remained 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand, models without ODS have shown an increase in global temperatures by 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, researchers are claiming those substances for one-third of global warming over the estimated period. The impact of preventing ODS from increasing stretched well beyond air temperatures. The research assigns September’s half of the ice loss in the Arctic sea to the substances over the five-decade phase of the study.