New international study: Spring Arctic ozone depletion changes northern hemisphere climate

　　China News Service, Beijing, July 8 (Reporter Sun Zifa) Springer Nature's professional academic journal "Nature-Earth Science" recently published a climate science research paper saying that the repeated spring ozone depletion in the Arctic (due to human emissions of ozone-depleting gases), temporarily altering temperatures and rainfall patterns in the Northern Hemisphere.

　　According to the paper, ultraviolet radiation from the sun is potentially harmful, and the ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere is crucial to absorb this ultraviolet radiation.

The release of gases such as chlorofluorocarbons has led to the destruction of the ozone layer in recent decades, affecting the energy balance of the atmosphere.

The impact of the persistent ozone hole over Antarctica on the southern hemisphere's surface environment is known, but it is not known whether there are similar surface climate effects in the northern hemisphere.

　　Corresponding author Marina Friedel of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in collaboration with colleagues and peers, analyzed climate data over the past 40 years (1980-2020) to identify years when the ozone layer over the Arctic was markedly depleted .

They found that northern Europe typically experiences wetter conditions a few weeks after a period of particularly low ozone levels in spring, while southern Europe and Eurasia experience warmer, drier conditions.

　　Using two climate models (including accurate representations of ozone chemistry), the authors successfully separated the effects of ozone depletion from unrelated atmospheric circulation processes.

They found that ozone depletion makes the stratosphere (the second layer of Earth's atmosphere) cooler.

This cooling effect prolongs the further spring of the polar vortex, which carries cold Arctic air southwards, causing abnormal surface temperatures and precipitation in the northern hemisphere.

　　The authors concluded that accounting for feedbacks from the ozone layer could go a long way in improving forecasts of climate conditions in the northern hemisphere weeks or even months in advance.

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