OZONE-DEPLETING substances (ODS) were responsible for a third of all global warming between 1955 and 2005, according to experts.
This is staggering considering the man-made substances were only developed in the 1920s and 30s but began to be phased out at the end of the 1980s.
They soon blamed ODS and this led to a global agreement to phase out the harmful substances.
However, a lot of damage was already done and the new research also found that the man-made chemicals were responsible for half of Arctic warming and sea ice loss between 1955 to 2005.
We need the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer to protect us from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
Luckily, their effects have since started to fade as it is illegal to produce the substances and they do slowly dissolve.
The chemicals used to be made and used as solvents, propellants and refrigerants.
They are entirely man-made so didn’t exist before the 1920s.
This made it easy to determine that they were the substances responsible for depleting the ozone layer.
The world sprang into action and the Montreal Prtocol was signed in 1987 and enforced in 1989.
It stated that ozone-depleting chemicals could no longer be made or used.
The research team from Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory used climate models to understand the impact of ODS.
Lamont-Doherty researcher Michael Previdi said: “We showed that ODS have affected the Arctic climate in a substantial way.”
The authors think that their results highlight the importance of the Montreal Protocol, that has now been signed by nearly 200 countries.
Professor Lorenzo Polvani, lead author of the study, said: “Climate mitigation is in action as we speak because these substances are decreasing in the atmosphere, thanks to the Montreal Protocol.
“In the coming decades, they will contribute less and less to global warming. It’s a good-news story.”
The study has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Climate change explained
Here are the basic facts…
Scientists have lots of evidence to show that the Earth’s climate is rapidly changing due to human activity
Climate change will result in problems like global warming, greater risk of flooding, droughts and regular heatwaves
Each of the last three decades have been hotter than the previous one and 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have happened during the 21stcentury
The Earth only needs to increase by a few degrees for it to spell disaster
The oceans are already warming, polar ice and glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising and we’re seeing more extreme weather events
In 2015, almost all of the world’s nations signed a deal called the Paris Agreement which set out ways in which they could tackle climate change and try to keep temperatures below 2C
Article Credit: thesun.co.uk