The Ozone Hole’s Earliest Cause Wasn’t CFCs After All – Gizmodo
Scientists discovered the ozone hole in 1985, but if they’d had the atmospheric monitoring capabilities of today, they could have found it 30 years earlier, according to new research.
When researchers first discovered the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985, it was a shock to the scientific community. The wave of studies that followed suggested it began forming in the 1970s, driven primarily by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Now, a new study offers a totally different perspective on its origin.
The findings, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the first signs of ozone depletion actually appeared as early as 1957. Though it took another 30 years for scientists to develop the atmospheric monitoring capabilities that led them to discover the hole, the ozone layer began thinning decades earlier.
