Smoke Particles From Wildfires Can Erode the Ozone Layer MIT chemists show the Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020. A wildfire can pump smoke up into the stratosphere, where the particles drift for over a year. A new MIT study has found that while suspended there, t
An MIT study finds that smoke particles in the stratosphere can trigger chemical reactions that erode the ozone layer — and that smoke particles from Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020. This map shows the size and shape of the ozone hole over the South Pole on October 5, 2022. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens. Edited by MIT News.chemists show the Australian wildfires widened the ozone hole by 10 percent in 2020.
The researchers’ model also indicates the fires had an effect in the polar regions, eating away at the edges of the ozone hole over Antarctica. By late 2020, smoke particles from the Australian wildfires widened the Antarctic ozone hole by 2.5 million square kilometers — 10 percent of its area compared to the previous year.
The study is led by Solomon and MIT research scientist Kane Stone, along with collaborators from the Institute for Environmental and Climate Research in Guangzhou, China; the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research; and Colorado State University.a chemical link between wildfires and ozone depletion.
In the polar regions, HCl can break apart when it interacts with the surface of cloud particles at frigid temperatures of about 155 kelvins. However, this reaction was not expected to occur at mid-latitudes, where temperatures are much warmer. The question then, was whether the Australian wildfires released any of those compounds that could have triggered HCl’s breakup and any subsequent depletion of ozone. When the team looked at the composition of smoke particles in the first days after the fires, the picture was anything but clear.
“It’s the aged smoke particles that really take up a lot of the HCl,” Solomon says. “And then you get, amazingly, the same reactions that you get in the ozone hole, but over mid-latitudes, at much warmer temperatures.”
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Chlorine activation and enhanced ozone depletion induced by wildfire aerosol - NatureComparison of model simulations with atmospheric observations from the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes following the 2020 Australian wildfires shows that the wildfire aerosol composition promotes stratospheric chlorine and ozone depletion chemistry.
Weiterlesen »
Rupert Murdoch Considered Buying 'The Apprentice' For Fox After Trump's 2020 LossBut the media mogul feared Trump would 'kill' the reality show by turning it into a full-time campaign vehicle, according to new court filings.
Weiterlesen »
The Kindergartners Of 2020 Share What They Remember About The Pandemic'Now 8 and 9 years old, their responses surprised and moved me — and reminded me that while they all had different experiences, we parents and teachers really did the best we could.'
Weiterlesen »
Man sentenced in 2020 killing of his wife in Littleton basementA man convicted of murdering his wife in their Littleton home's basement was sentenced to several decades in prison on Wednesday.
Weiterlesen »
Kristen Doute Returns to 'Vanderpump Rules' After Being Fired in 2020Kristen Doute is returning to the reality series amid her ex, Tom Sandoval's, cheating scandal.
Weiterlesen »