The Earth’s ozone layer is gradually recovering. This is stated in the published report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Experts predict full recovery of the ozone layer in most parts of the atmosphere in the coming decades.
According to the WMO, ozone accumulations were above normal in the tropics and subtropics in 2022, while ozone accumulations were below normal at higher latitudes, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. The ozone layer protects life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, so monitoring ozone is critical to human safety and the environment.
It is currently recovering at a rate of 1-3 percent per decade, and at this rate should be fully recovered over the Northern Hemisphere by the 2030s, over the Southern Hemisphere by the 2050s, and over the poles by 2060.
Ozone is a special form of oxygen with the chemical formula O3. Ozone is a very small part of our atmosphere, but its presence is important to human health and well-being.
Most ozone is found between 10 and 40 km above the Earth’s surface. This region is called the stratosphere, and it contains about 90 percent of all atmospheric ozone.
In 1994, the UN General Assembly proclaimed September 16 as International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987.
