Tag : Ozone

Zurich (Switzerland): Although the ozone hole over Antarctica is well known, few people are aware that the protective ozone in the stratosphere periodically breaks down over the Arctic, depleting the ozone layer there. Prior to that, it occurred in the spring of 2011 and most recently in the months of spring 2020. A new study published in ETH Zurich has established that the destruction of ozone over the Arctic in the spring causes abnormal weather throughout the northern hemisphere, with many places being warmer and drier than average -- or too wet. Climate scientists have recorded weather abnormalities every time the ozone layer has been breached, which has affected the whole northern hemisphere. Those spring seasons were extremely warm and dry in Siberia, central and northern Europe, Russia, and especially in the former Soviet Union. However, there were other places, like the arctic regions, where it was damp. These meteorological irregularities were especially noticeable in 2020. Additionally, that spring in Switzerland was abnormally warm and dry. Climate research is divided on the issue of whether the loss of stratospheric ozone causes the observed weather anomalies. Another factor is the stratospheric polar vortex, which develops in the winter and dissipates in the spring. The facts and conclusions reached by scientists who have so far investigated the phenomenon are incongruous. Thanks to doctoral candidate Marina Friedel and Ambizione Fellow Gabriel Chiodo of the Swiss National Science Foundation, fresh information is now clarifying the issue. Both work with Princeton University and other institutions as part of the team led by Thomas Peter, professor of atmospheric chemistry at ETH Zurich. The researchers performed simula ...