Researchers say that smoke from Australian wildfires caused a chemical reaction that made a 10 percent hole in the ozone layer. This makes people worried that the growing number of forest fires could slow the repair of the ozone layer, which protects the Earth’s atmosphere.
AFP says that from late 2019 to early 2020, the deadly “black summer” wildfires will be caused by extreme heat and drought in the summer. These wildfires destroy large groups of eucalyptus trees, and cities like Sydney are covered in smoke and ash for months.
Previous research has shown that fires put more than 1 million metric tonnes of smoke each spring into the air. This makes the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica get bigger and bigger.
In a new study published Wednesday in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from the United States and China found that wildfires start a newly discovered chemical reaction that makes the ozone layer thinner. Ozone cuts down on the amount of UV light that reaches the surface of the Earth.
Susan Solomon, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who led the study, said that a chemical reaction is chipping away at the edge of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. This is causing the hole to grow by 2 million square kilometers, 10 percent more than the previous year.
Models from the United Nations say that the hole in the ozone layer in the Southern Hemisphere should be fixed by 2060. Still, Solomon worries that climate change could slow the rate of repair.
Solomon was the first person to determine that chemicals were to blame for the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica in the 1980s.
She said, “We think wildfires will worsen and happen more often. The ozone layer hole will improve over time, but wildfires could slow that down.”
