Climate scientists say the area of ​​the ozone hole that formed over the Arctic in the 1980s has begun to shrink more slowly than it used to be.

Professor Ross Salavich, University of Maryland, explained that the state of the ozone layer in the Arctic is affected by two competing processes, namely the slow decrease in the proportion of freons in the atmosphere on the one hand and global warming on the other, which reduces the air temperature over the Arctic region. The drop in temperature over the Arctic causes chlorine gas to be released, which slows down the recovery of the ozone layer.

It is noteworthy that American chemists clarified in the mid-1980s that the ozone layer that protects the Earth from ultraviolet rays is gradually degrading under the influence of freons, as compounds of fluorine, chlorine and hydrocarbons. These compounds were used as coolants and components in building materials that gradually infiltrated the atmosphere, which led to the formation of two ozone holes over the North and South Poles.

As a result, the authorities of many countries banned the production and use of the most dangerous types of freons, and then 5 years later, climatologists recorded for the first time signs that the size of ozone holes began to decrease.

In recent years, scientists have begun to notice that the rate of recovery of the ozone layer above the Earth’s poles is somewhat inconsistent with what computer models predict. It turns out that some of these discrepancies are related to the illegal production of freons that are banned in China and other Asian countries, but such leaks of refrigerant cannot fully explain this anomaly.

Climatologists have tried to find out why by using a detailed climate model of the Arctic. It took into account not only the percentage of Freon in the atmosphere, but also how different climatic processes affect the nature of the interaction of Freon molecules with the ozone layer.

It was found that the phenomenon of global warming has an important role in slowing down the process of restoring the ozone layers.